Peyton Tolle is a Boston Red Sox rookie and already a team mate and fan favorite for his big extrovert personality that matches his huge frame (6’6,” about 260 pounds), highlighted by Tolle’s obvious joy at playing a kid’s game for a living.
In yesterday’s Red Sox 9-8 extra-innings win over the Seattle Mariners (The Red Sox are having one of their most entertaining seasons ever), Tolle, was Boston’s starting pitcher, did something that nobody could recall any previous major league baseball player doing. As you can see above, when the hulking Tolle went to tag out Mariners player Dominic Canzone on the first base line after fielding a bouncer back to him on the mound, he preceded his tag with a smile and a hug.
Some old timers gag when they see opposing team players even chatting cordially at first base. The unwritten rule of baseball was that on the field the other team was literally a mortal foe, and its players were to be treated as such. In the 1960s a player who did what Tolle did would be excoriated, fined, exiled to the manager’s “dog house” and probably demoted to the minors.
Last night the Red Sox players seemed to get a kick out of their exuberant rookie’s latest surprise—he also likes playing tricks on team mates—saying, “That’s Tolle!” as the agreed-upon answer when questioned by reporters after the game. The sports media was all positive, with ESPN calling The Hug “The most wholesome play of the season.”
Ethics Alarms 
Baseball follows culture, surely.
If it’s wrong in baseball, it means something else is wrong in the culture.
I think Canzone set himself up for it, by not running full throttle to 1st, which is always a no-no. Its as if Dominic gave up and Tolle felt bad for him. However, I think as a manager, I would mention to try to refrain from that in the future. It could lead to nonsense on the base paths.
In a question like this, I ask myself, “What would my baseball hero do?” In this case, Bob Gibson would never hug an opposing player during battle, er, I mean, a game. He might hold his back up catcher’s hand in an official team picture, but that was Bob Uecker for Heaven sakes.
During my long tenure in business, and witnessing all kinds of people and events, I’d highly recommend against hugging anyone in the work place! Sexual harassment can be a murky area and people love to litigate the smallest thing.
If the runner had feigned to move in for the hug but then engaged in an evasive maneuver, Tolle could have been caught off guard just enough for the runner to reach first. Yet, from their postures, it seemed to be gentlemen’s agreement that the out was inevitable.
The hug gesture brightened my morning.
I like to think interactions like this reveal the greater character of a nation.
For transparency purposes, I have to disclose that I am a big fan of hugging.
It took a very long time for me to realize that not everyone likes to be hugged, though. Also, that there is a time and a place to hug people.
A workplace setting, for example, that wants to be taken seriously might want to discourage hugging among colleagues and, especially, between superiors and subordinates. An employee that wants to be taken seriously might decide that hugging people in the office undermines that goal. One never knows how another person may react to spontaneous hugging, after all. It might be welcomes, it might be spurned, it might give you an unwanted love interest or it might get you reprimanded by HR.
During a baseball game, a player is expected to be professional. Is it any different from being in a boardroom, a classroom or an examining room?
On the other hand, we do have to consider the audience. My childhood dentist used to make funny noises to make me laugh while he was examining my teeth so I wouldn’t be afraid. I consider that ethical. He’s helping me help him do his job.
But Tolle isn’t doing that. We should also consider that another player may not want to be hugged but is reluctant to turn Tolle down because there’s an audience and he doesn’t want to look like a jerk. Putting someone on the spot in public is wrong.
The entertainment factor of sporting events is another consideration. Fans debate this. When you go to see the Harlem Globetrotters, you expect to see hijinks on the court. Maybe you don’t when you watch the Knicks or the 76ers.
The late basketball coach, John Wooden, disapproved of what he called showmanship, “There’s too much individual showmanship… I’m interested in teamwork; in the rhythm of the game; in the beauty of watching a play unfold that eventually leads to a basket.” He was also famous for forbidding showboating in his players.
But that would apply to the actual playing of the game. In a situation in which there is no risk to the scoring, high-fiving or hugging may not be unethical or unprofessional. We live in a culture that is eshewing civility in favor of competitive one-upmanship, encouraging lack of cooperation with people who don’t agree with us. The WNBA is providing us with wretched examples of unsportsmanlike behavior. Seeing competing players showing amity to each other isn’t wrong.
But the time and place are what’s at issue here.
As long as Tolle’s hugs are welcome by other players and are occuring at a time in which the ball is not in play, such as at the end of an inning, I don’t see a problem with it. If precious seconds are lost because Tolle is hugging an outfielder while a pop fly is headed his way, it’s unethical and unprofessional.
Well, I probably walked around John Brown’s barn to get there, but I would say the coach should tell Tolle to knock it off during active play.
Great comment. I’ll probably make it a Comment of the Day even though COTD on baseball posts get read even less than the posts themselves.
Thanks! My comments on sports entries are even fewer.
The sort of basketball John Wooden describes is no longer played. Basketball at the highest level is one hundred percent individual prowess. No one works to get an open shot anymore. It’s a different sport than it was in Wooden’s era. What he considered showboating is now winning basketball.
Never in the course of human history has one said so much about so little. — Winnie C.
Nicely done, AM.
Having watched the video, it seems that tagging the batter/runner dude on his way to first base was inevitable so hugging didn’t have an impact on the outcome of the game. No runners advanced and no runners scored. I recognize this is consequentialism at its finest, but sometimes consequentialism is the core of the issue. The hug, then, was simply a gesture of colleagues playing a game and it is apparent that Tolle did not intend to humiliate or mock the batter, and the batter didn’t seem to object to the gesture.
The announcers seemed to enjoy it and the fans thought it was funny or acceptable.
I have practiced law for over 35 years. There are very few lawyers I truly detest. I don’t have personal or professional enemies, though at times I have wanted to throttle an opposing counsel or two on occasion. I have tried to maintain a level of professional decorum in what I do – I figure most lawyers are just trying to do their jobs as best they can so there is no reason to make it personal driven by anymosity or rancor. I don’t hug other lawyers, though, unless they initiate it.
There is a hugger colleague, though, who inadvertently got himself into a bit of a sticky whicket a few years back. We were awaiting creditors’ meetings and my friend, a fellow I am honored to call a friend, is a good lawyer and a hugger extraordinaire. He hugs everyone. Well, a young lady attorney [known to all of us present and not a stranger – who may or may not have had a crush on my friend] waiting for her creditors’ meeting attempted to beat my friend to the hug. Merriment ensued:
She: “Oh, hello [name withheld to protect the innocent]. How are you?” She proceeded to move with reckless abandon to hug him.
He: “Hello! Great to see you!” Whereupon she wrapped her arms tightly around him in a full on body to body bear hug. This was no cordial “hey, how are you” hug. Nope. Rib crushing and back breaking.
He: “Oo. Careful. You’re gonna smash my banana.”
She: [Completely misinterpreting what he said] “Uh. Oh. Sorry . . .” Blushing a bit but still wrapped around him.
He: “No. I’m serious. You’re smashing my banana.”
She: [Releasing him from her huggery custody, bashful and slightly embarassed] “Huh?”
He: [Reaching into his pants pocket] “No worries. My banana . . . .”
She: “Don’t show me! I mean, here? Really?”
He: “No, seriously, my banana is fine.”
She: [Horrified] “What?!”
He: [Pulling the offended fruit* from his trouser pocket] “See? Everything is fine.”
She: “Oh. I thought . . . never mind.”
He: “What? My banana is fine.”
She: “Oh . . . You mean a real banana . . . “
Crowd: [Watching with amusement, including your’s truly] burst out laughing.
He: [Not sure what the laughter was all about] “Huh? Oh.” [Turning to me] “I think there is some misunderstanding.”
Me: “I’ll say.”
He: “. . . .”
jvb
*Ed Note: Who puts a banana in one’s pants pocket? That is what briefcases are used for.
After that story, I’m considering carrying one around in my pocket on a regular basis, just for the humor value in case I ever find myself in a similar situation as your friend.
Plus, if anyone ever asks me if that’s a banana in my pocket or I’m just happy to see them, I’ll be able to reply, “Nope. Just a banana. I’m not really that happy to see you at all.”
Sure. The play was over, so it didn’t affect anything. If anything, it encourages good sportsmanship. At the end of games, it’s common to see this kind of camaraderie. We often encourage it. In the rec leagues I officiate, opposing team members will pick each other up, fist bump, and cheer each other on. They even do some of that before the game. After the game, line up and shake hands (sometimes hug). What’s the point of treating them like the enemy if you’re going to immediately encourage them to treat them like a friend?
I think watching it over frame-by-frame just like an amazing unbelievable play or a close call video-replay adds a lot of perspective. Tolle doesn’t go for the hug until Canzone had already pulled-up and slowed his pace. Canzone could have reacted any number of other ways, but he was complicit in the moment to seal the deal with a hug. Had Canzone not pulled-up, the race would have continued to first and the hug never would have happened. It was very situational – and on this occassion, a welcome break from tradition.
The other thing going on here is that MLB has to realize it’s fighting a new battle. Not in the “we will perish” sort of way, but the circus is gaining in popularity and relevance and MLB doesn’t need to perpetuate itself as a “stodgy, uncaring, and pompous authority”. Should they perpectuate that, it will be their own “No Fun League” moment.
In conclusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wahuPBrJ48
The players in the major sports leagues have become very wealthy fellow union members more than opponents. I find it annoying. But I suppose we have to remember all the players grew up doing handshake lines after pee-wee league games, so, they’ve been doing this their entire lives. And maybe they and sports are better off for it.
I don’t think so: https://www.mlb.com/news/varitek-rodriguez-led-red-sox-yankees-brawl
It’s like Hitler hugging Albert Einstein
WHAT?! Not even in same league . . . erm . . . ballpark . . . uh.
jvb
It was sarcasm, but just a touch. If the runner kept running, out and no hug. If the runner left the 3-foot lane, or headed back to the dugout, out and no hug. Instead, he stood there virtually waiting for the hug, and participated it in, and it made a good moment. If nonsense is the goal, we can ask if it’s professional and ethical for the runner to stop running and stand there and then participate in the hug. Then we can further ask if the network is professional and ethical for allowing its announcers to seemingly endorse such an ethically-questionable hug. And, of course, Gordon can post tome after tome on each iteration — it would be an ethical tragedy if he didn’t.
You? Sarcastic?
Oh. Sorry. I am a bit obtuse lately. I got stung by a bunch of bees a few weeks ago and i haven’t fully recovered from the mast cell degranulating peptides coursing through my body.
jvb
I hope all is well now. That sounds dreadful.
Sammy Davis Junior hugging Richard Nixon?
Just a friendly gesture, barely a hug – nice moment. Leave it be.