I’m glad there’s crying in baseball

/ July 30, 2015
Still a Met today. (Photo from Getty Images)

Still a Met today. (Photo from Getty Images)

My Mets lost last night, but even during a pennant race, that wasn’t the big story. Wilmer Flores got tears in his eyes. On the field. During the game. He couldn’t hide it from the TV cameras.

There is crying baseball, Tom Hanks’ crusty manager Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own. And that makes me a happy man and fan today.

This is not a story about stats, you see. Flores is an infielder who hits some and fields OK, started at shortstop for awhile this season then was moved to second base … a guy in his mid-20s on that slippery slope between exciting potential and disappointing reality. In any case, apparently the Mets’ suits on the final night of what’s called the trading deadline had decided an outfielder on the Milwaukee Brewers by the name of Carlos Gomez — who used to be a Met seasons ago before being swapped to the Twins for pitcher Johan Santana — would be better used in the battle with the Washington Nationals for the division title.

Somehow, in this age of social media, Flores heard of this during the game.

And the player signed by the Mets at the age of 16 back in 2007 was upset by the news. Emotional enough to cry when he returned to play second base.

Then during the process of the night, reports say, the Mets’ brass heard reports that Gomez has a bad hip. No trade. Flores is still a Met.

Reporters asked Flores why he was crying after they lost 7-3 to the San Diego Padres. He said he was upset. That’s a good enough answer for me. Hell, put in his cleats, I would have been leaking moisture up there, too.

Yes, bully for Wilmer Flores. Statistics aside, that’s the kind of player I want on my team. Invested. Engaged. Emotional. Sometimes winning goes beyond mere batting averages and into team chemistry. Let’s Go Mets. Wilmer Flores remains in New York. For today.

What do you think of a player crying on the field during the game? Keep Wilmer or get rid of him based on emotions? Pure performance or character judgment too when deciding about who to have next to you in your organization?

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38 thoughts on “I’m glad there’s crying in baseball”

  4. I went to youtube to try and see a video. First one I pulled up (because I didn’t know which one to pull up) was some guy cutting on the Mets and and Flores. I don’t even follow baseball or any team but it made me mad and I shut it off. I watched a short clip to see a man at his job and being worried and sad. Why is that a bad thing? I related to the emotion of his worries. He’s not a machine.

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  5. I caught Mike and Mike talking about this on ESPN this morning. It’s weird when the fans know more about what’s going on with the team than the players do…

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  6. I was watching MLB Network last night and they were showing this live. None of the three analysts could believe Flores wasn’t pulled from the game…. but why should he have been when nothing had happened yet, or as we came to find out, did happen. Boo to the baseball “insiders” who want to tell the story now even before it happens, and boo to the instantaneous world of social media for helping fan the flames of misinformation at an alarmingly unstoppable pace. This whole scenario is such an indictment on what the world of news and information has become…. but that still doesn’t take anything away from Flores’ passion he wears on his sleeve. I would actually rather see an emotional player than a cardboard cutout like that other New York shortstop for so long was….

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  7. When I was little, we would listen to an album called “Free To Be You And Me.” That was on high rotation for Gen X, and it had a song called, “It’s alright to cry…crying gets the sad out of you.” You got to get it out of you. More power to him. I’m sure his tears were more real than Tammy Faye Bakker, eh?

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  8. I am not a baseball fan either yet I don’t have any issue with a player expressing emotions on the field – whatever emotions and however they wish to express them.

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  10. As many missteps as the Mets have made in recent seasons, I thought it was a nice to see a player who WANTS to be there. But I’m more glad the trade fell through because I felt Zack Wheeler was too much to give up for Gomez.

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  12. I hate trading deadline time. Especially being a Reds fan I’ve seen way to many (and more to come) get traded for b.s. prospects that never pan out. I think it’s pretty awesome Flores let his emotions go, who wouldn’t be crying if they learned they had to go to the Brewers.

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  14. Mark, I am afraid to say this, but I am not a baseball fan. However, the fact that someone felt so passionately about the outcome of the game (which means they were in it because of the love of the game, not for the love of money) makes me want to become a fan. That’s what we need in this world, is more people with passion and devotion to the things they do (not this flitting from one thing to another, because they are going with the tide of lemmings on social media – ie multiple magnetic ribbons on the back of a car). That’s what are society is missing – dedicated passion with staying power!!!!

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