Not surprisingly, MLB did not fine or suspend Byrce Harper after his ejection at the hands of fightin' John Hirschbeck on Sunday in Pittsburgh. And, not surprisingly, Harper said all the right things when he heard about the decision:
"It's great. I'm glad I don't have to pay the $1,000. That's another $1,000 in my pocket, so that's good. That's Major League Baseball's decision, and I respect that, definitely. And if I was to get fined, I would have respected that, too."
(Bryce Harper, via Nats Insider, 5/7/2013)
You can see MLB.com video of the MASN feed here; but the video evidence which seems to back up claims that Harper didn't do much of anything ("slamming" his helmet seems a stretch) and that Hirschbeck was looking to throw him out regardless via the Pirates feed has since been destroyed.
Again, here's Hirschbeck on being shown up and "being nice":
"I didn’t like that he put his hands up with the bat. That’s kind of what I yelled at him. He continued and threw his bat. I kind of pointed like, ‘That’s equipment.’ And then, he still continued and slammed his helmet down. That’s when I ejected him. ...I was actually just being nice. Even the hands up in the air is showing me up, to me. I could have ejected him right then. I was nice enough to leave him in the game. And then he slammed his bat down. And then on top of that, he slammed his helmet. I had no other recourse, really."
(John Hirschbeck, via Washington Post, 5/6/2013)
(Screencap via MLB.com video)
Befriend Nats Enquirer on Facebook. Follow on Twitter.
Comments