Last Tuesday, Adam LaRoche abruptly retired from Major League Baseball and walked away from $13 million with the Chicago White Sox. Sparking much controversy, the White Sox had told LaRoche that he must drastically cut down the time his son, Drake LaRoche, spent in the team clubhouse. The White Sox organization and others have tried to justify the new policy by arguing that playing baseball is a job and that in no other occupation would this sort of behavior be tolerated. While this is true, it ignores the fact that baseball — like all sports — is first and foremost a game.  

Baseball has repeatedly sacrificed the inherent fun of the game for old school traditions. Whether or not it is permissible for LaRoche’s son to participate with a professional team for so much time, it is difficult to disagree with the assertion that Major League Baseball takes pride in being a “serious” sport. 

Time and time again it has taken itself too seriously, with LaRoche as the most recent example. While this circumstance was an off-the-field incident, most controversies surround the on-field behaviors of the athletes. 

Players, coaches and the media have attacked stars such as Jose Bautista, Yoenis Cespedes and Bryce Harper for their bat flipping and showmanship by claiming  that these types of behaviors are immature and disrespectful. 

According to the old unspoken rules of baseball, pitchers should respond to these types of showboating by throwing at the batter’s head. Fascinating, that celebrating success is seen as juvenile while endangering someone’s health by throwing close to their head is seen as a prudent measure to enforce a secret rule book. 

It is the old-timers of the game who are the most vocal about what they see as disrespect toward the tradition of the game. 

Most recently, former star pitcher Goose Gossage ranted about the way the game is played by a new generation of ballplayers. Gossage told ESPN that Bautista, specifically, is a “disgrace to the game.” He expressed his complete disgust at both bat flipping and “acting like a fool.” 

Former pitcher and current ESPN analyst Curt Schilling noted that Bautista should be prepared to receive retribution for an over-the-top bat flip celebration that occurred during the American League Division series last year between the Toronto Blue Jays and  the Texas Rangers. This archaic view of a punitive system for celebrations needs to be revised. Gossage and others are stuck in the past, holding tight to the glory days of baseball and what they strictly maintain is the only proper way to play it. 

It is time for these self-righteous veterans of the game to wake up and celebrate the players who try to make baseball enjoyable for teammates and fans alike. 

Baseball has long been chastised for being too long and boring, unable to capture the short attention span of the younger generations. This dull reputation is certainly not extinguished by those in the game who wish to silence the entertainment and excitement value brought by some players such as Bautista and Cespedes. 

In a time when baseball is competing with the more exciting and fast-paced sports of basketball and football, now it is more important than ever for baseball to let go of its stranglehold over fun. 

Let Bautista flip his bat after another crushing dinger. Allow Cespedes to wear his cap backwards and gloat after throwing a runner out at home. Refrain from criticizing Harper when he shows his emotion on the field. 

Maybe the sport, which Harper referred to as “tired” in an ESPN interview, will realize why it was once called “our national pastime”: because it is a game.