Bryce Harper and Babe Ruth

I’m a little late on this, but regardless of timeliness, Kevin Goldstein did some reporting on Bryce Harper last week. Goldstein talked to a few scouts and … well; the reviews on Harper’s intangible qualities – which are wholly tangible when they need to be – are less than stellar. I don’t care to attempt and judge Harper or talk about what these opinions mean to his future. He’s a teenager with enough strength to hit baseballs 500 feet and wear David DeJesus on a chain around his neck. He’s also been on the cover of Sports Illustrated and on the lips (and fingertips) of every baseball draft analyst since last year. Excuse me for expecting nothing less than a sense of self pride.

What I do want to bring up, though, is something I ranted about recently elsewhere. Think about the definitive Babe Ruth tale. It’s the called shot, right? Everyone knows about Ruth’s called shot. It’s a signature moment and a piece of Americana folklore. There are many conflicting tales on what exactly took place on that day. Some say Ruth called his shot, others say he didn’t. Some say Ruth spent the day trading taunts with the Chicago Cubs’ dugout, others say he was just sticking up for a former teammate who wasn’t receiving his post-season share. A lot of hearsay. A lot of noise.

For the most part though, people seem to buy into the called shot being real. Perhaps we just want it to be real. But, isn’t calling a shot pretty selfish? One of the best players in baseball today can’t even trot across the back of the mound without it becoming a hot topic on every sports site, radio show, and television show for a week steady, imagine Ruth living in today’s world and pointing towards center. Now imagine him doing it during the World Series.

This isn’t supposed to be some scathing commentary on how we’ve come to expect a different set of standards from our athletes. It’s not even a commentary on Babe Ruth’s antics. It’s just odd and maybe a teeny bit hypocritical to recite that Ruth story with such vigor while treating Harper like a leper. It shows that if you hit a baseball far enough and well enough, then you can get away with anything on the field. And really, isn’t that probably the root of Harper’s issues already?