By now, we’ve all seen the video of Delmon Young’s bat flip. At least, ESPN was calling it a flip before the video came out. They’ve kind of quieted on that now that we saw that Young really whipped that sucker.
Intent to harm is still a question mark…but when you throw a wooden object at that speed end over end in the direction of someone, you have to realize the distinct possibility of injury. This eyewitness account stresses that he tossed and did not fling the bat, but I vote fling.
The Young incident is far worse than Roberto Alomar’s hocker. In comparison, I don’t know why we got so worked up over that. Sure, it was gross and incredibly disrespectful, but Hirschbeck was never in harm’s way. The two are actually friends now.
Buster Olney made the point that if you suspend steroid users for 50 games, Young deserves at least as long. Because steroid users are not putting anyone else in danger (except perhaps their friends and loved ones). Kenny Rogers got 20 games for his cameraman thing. How does this compare? Young’s infraction is probably worse. I think we are looking at 40-50 games, which will definitely stunt his growth. The Devil Rays will probably wait until 2007 to call him up.
