Remember that Jays vs. Rangers brawl back in May?
Well, from the sounds of a letter that made it to the desk of Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, the fracas spawned quite the debate at one Toronto elementary school. Mme. Stevens’ grade four class at Humbercrest Public School didn’t care for the fisticuffs—and they didn’t much like the consequences, either.
To recap: the Jays and Rangers have had bad blood since Bautista’s bat-flip-heard-‘round-the-world. It laid dormant until a game last month, when Texas pitcher Matt Bush intentionally hit Joey Bats with a pitch. The angered slugger later slid hard into second base in an attempt to break up a double play. Odor took exception and clocked Bautista on the jaw with a mighty punch. He got an eight-game suspension for the wallop, but he appealed and only had to serve seven. None of it sat well with the kids:
It’s hard to argue with that logic (and those adorably scrawled names). But that didn’t stop MLB commissioner Rob Manfred from trying:
It’s too bad the sincere, unexpected response kind of reads like a quick and dirty lesson in MLB’s warped view of on-field justice.
Nice of him to respond, though.
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