Bryce Harper is right, baseball is tired.

No matter what anyone says, baseball will never change… and that’s sad.

For the last 150 years, baseball has been the most consistent sport in the world. Nothing has ever changed and it doesn’t seem like it ever will. Even with players like Bryce Harper pleading his case of wanting flare in the game, critics will never allow it to happen. It seems that it doesn’t matter if you support it or not, there’s one right answer and that is to stay old school.

Old school might be getting too old though. The world is beginning to change. People, especially athletes, love nothing more than to shine. Whether it’s Cam Newton dabbing in the endzone or Stephen Curry giving the 3-point goggles to the opposing team. In baseball though, it’s as simple as hit the ball and run to the base. Never smile. Never dance. Never shine.

Like every other topic in the world, there will never be an agreement on the matter. Some believe you should be able to flip a bat after a home run, others believe you should be hit by a pitch if you flip a bat. In my mind, it just doesn’t make much sense why you can’t flip a bat. I understand there’s respect and baseball is a game of tradition. But when does tradition begin to become obsolete? For as long as baseball has been around, flipping a bat, celebrating a hit, or any form of expression during an at bat was, and still is, considered to be disrespectful. Your job as a batter is to walk up to the plate, hit the ball, run the bases, and go back to the bench without any emotion. As a professional athlete, it has to be pretty hard to live your entire life without expressing yourself. It’s also very hard to believe that all these players are this straight faced in their personalities.

All you hear when players want to showboat is “hit him next time.” Why? Because a batter can’t fist pump, but a pitcher can? People love to hate quarterbacks for being babied, but no one bats an eye at a pitcher. It boggles the mind to think that pitchers can celebrate, but once a batter does, he needs to be hit.

Also, these players aren’t calling out the pitcher. Just because you flip a bat doesn’t mean you just called the pitcher’s mom fat. It means you are excited you just hit a ball 400 feet and you want the world to know.

When a basketball player crosses a defender and dunks the ball, he doesn’t celebrate the fact that the defender just got crossed-up, he celebrates that he just pulled off a great move. When a linebacker sacks a quarterback, he isn’t dancing because the quarterback is hurt, he’s dancing because he just made a big play.

So when a left fielder hits a home run, he isn’t saying to the pitcher, “HA look what I just did. You suck!” He’s saying “Woo! I just hit a home run!”

Baseball is old. It’s becoming very old. Most people you talk to will tell you they can’t sit through an entire game. Yes, some of that has to do with the game taking four hours, but it wouldn’t be as long if there was emotion. The way players react to things during the game, it almost feels like the commentators should whisper. Ok, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but the point is there.

Flare would make baseball exciting again. Players are becoming flashier and the game should to. Rivalries are almost nonexistent between players. When it comes to other sports, player rivalries are what drive the sport. If a player flips a bat, the consequence shouldn’t be death by hit pitch, the pitcher should strike him out and say, “not this time,” just like you would playing in the field by your house.

There will always be critics to new school baseball. No matter what, people will forever believe that flipping a bat is a penalty worthy of death.

Maybe it’s time to revive the game though. Maybe flipping a bat should lead to rivalries, not injuries.