{"id":1989,"date":"2011-10-29T09:01:03","date_gmt":"2011-10-29T14:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:36:05","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:36:05","slug":"baseball-beards-and-spitting-yikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/10\/29\/baseball-beards-and-spitting-yikes\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball, Beards, and Spitting! Yikes!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the last couple of days, I watched more baseball than I have in a couple of years. In the end, it was not much fun for someone from Texas, though I\u2019ve got to give tons of credit to the St. Louis Cardinals. They proved to have great fortitude in addition to great talent.<\/p>\n

But I have one gripe and one question.<\/p>\n

My gripe is this: spitting. Not only did I see more baseball in the last week than I have in a long time, but also I saw more spitting than I have in the last decade. At one point, I started to count the number of spits in an inning, but I lost track into the twenties. I realize that lots of players are chewing tobacco. I hear that some have gone healthier, with sunflower seeds or gum. But, I don\u2019t care if they\u2019re chewing their tongues, the spitting thing is obnoxious. I suppose if I were to watch baseball all the time I\u2019d get used to it. But, frankly, this gives me a good reason not to watch. I just don\u2019t particularly want to watch people spitting all the time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
One of the most impressive beards in baseball belongs to Brian Wilson, relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. Most of the beards in the World Series were nicely trimmed. If Wilson wants to help his team into the series, he should get a beard trimmer. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My question: What\u2019s up with the beards? It seemed like almost every player on the Cardinals and the Rangers had a beard. Now this doesn\u2019t bother me. I wore a beard for more than half of my adult life. I\u2019m just curious about where the beard wearing came from. In the olden days, professional athletes had short, well-managed hair, and they were almost always clean-shaven. Now, it\u2019s not uncommon to see long hair flowing out from the back of NFL helmets. And I guess if you really want to play in the World Series, you\u2019d better have a beard. And not just a scruffy \u201cI\u2019m not shaving during the playoffs\u201d beard, but a well-manicured beauty. Does anybody know when baseball players started wearing beards? Is there some magic reason?<\/p>\n

I can see only one major problem with the beard thing, and that\u2019s the mixture of beard and spitting. I\u2019d be afraid to guess what\u2019s lurking in some of those beards. Ugh!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last couple of days, I watched more baseball than I have in a couple of years. In the end, it was not much fun for someone from Texas, though I\u2019ve got to give tons of credit to the St. Louis Cardinals. They proved to have great fortitude in addition to great talent. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9565,8681],"tags":[16573,16574,16575],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-commentary","category-a-bit-of-fun","tag-baseball","tag-beards","tag-spitting"],"yoast_head":"\nBaseball, Beards, and Spitting! Yikes!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the last couple of days, I watched more baseball than I have in a couple of years. 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