An unhappy crowd expressing their disgust. (Getty Images/Credit: SDI Productions)
In baseball, when a player from the home team has a lead off of first base and the opposing pitcher attempts a pickoff, there will be booing from the home crowd. If the pitcher dares another attempt, the booing intensifies. Every throw over brings more fury from the crowd, and more and more people join in until it becomes a fantastical chorus of mooing cows in unison.
Those boo birds come out as early as the birdly worm hunters. The first batter on base for the fresh new season who gets challenged by the away team’s pitcher is going to hear it from some of the more diehard fans. It’s like they’ve been waiting all season for their boos to be heard.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been caught up in the booing just like many fans have. It’s like crowd-thinking and maybe some adrenaline takes over and you’ve been indoctrinated as part of the team.
Old Boo Meet the New Boo
The funniest thing in the world is when you look over and see the senior citizens joining in. All because that away team’s pitcher braved the birds and tried to pickoff the baserunner who was almost surely going to steal second with that stingy lead off of first.
How dare they. So you need to stand up for team crowd.
On a related note, Chris Welsh once tried to pickoff Vince Coleman (the fastest man in the world) 17 times in a row before Coleman stole second base anyway. The catcher mishandled it and never got the throw off. But that was a home game so the fans weren’t hostile. Not even close. They had an unbelievable level of calm. Also, it was a different era.
Tell Me Why
It’s such an unusual phenomenon, the booing of the away team’s pitcher. It can’t be narrowed down to just one reason.
The gradual increase in boos could be used as some sociological gauge to monitor how quickly people lose their cool in social situations. It doesn’t take long in this scenario. A handful of people are uncontrollable hot heads while others almost never give in.
Probably a majority of people boo because they don’t like a break in the action. Baseball’s already slow enough anyway. In the hundred plus years before the pitch clock and overtime rules, it was way worse. Maybe they’re so conditioned the idea that even after the rule change they just can’t shake the habit.
For some people, booing just feels right. It fits them. You can hear the passion in their jeers. Have you ever read The Celestine Prophesy? These are the aura gobblers.
If booing is misbehaving, then baseball is no stranger to misbehaving fans. In actuality, we misbehave more frequently than we should.
Heckles Are Worse than Boos
I’ve personally sat near a fan who heckled an outfielder for the entire game. Security guards walked right by him and apparently there was nothing they could do about it. It was really embarrassing, and even though the outfielder was a member of the other team, it was plain rude. The heckler should win an award for most annoying way to implant an unwanted memory in dozens of our heads. I can’t even remember who won that game.
I digress.
So, boo away, I suppose. Boo until you’re little heart’s all warm and fuzzy. My only advice is that you do it in harmony with the crowd, otherwise you’re just nails on a chalkboard.
