Bush Leage Debates: The Shaving Cream Pie Celebration

It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to hammer out another Bush League Debate, but something occurred yesterday that is perfect for this sort of thing, so it’s time to bring it back. Essentially I take a look at a controversial situation, present both sides of the argument, and a verdict. If the verdict is that the act in question is deemed bush league, a penalty is also handed down. For those of you who missed the first few or don’t even know what I am talking about, I’ll refer you to the three other instances of Bush League Debates, and you can get a general idea of how this thing is done.

This past Sunday, the Florida Marlins Wes Helms delivered a walkoff win in the 9th, prompting last year’s ROY Chris Coughlan to present him with a cream pie to the face during Helms’ postgame interview. In perhaps the oddest injury to occur since Kendry Morales’ cannonball-esque pounce onto home plate (which broke his leg), Coughlan landed on his leg funny after delivering the pie, and in the process tore his meniscus. Now he could be looking at surgery and 6-8 weeks on the DL. But let’s set aside the injury for a second…

The Situation: A team win’s in walkoff fashion. Celebration ensues, although the previously mentioned Morales’ incident has served as a cautionary tale for clubs, and the home plate greeting has definitely been less intense than it was prior to that injury. So, team’s pat the guy on his head, smack his ass, and generally jump up and down for a few minutes. That’s cool, it’s exciting. But then comes the postgame interview cream pie to the face. But is the cream pie really an acceptable act?

Why It’s Acceptable: Yes, it’s funny. In particular, Stephen Strasburg’s first MLB pie to the face was great because the interview thereafter still maintained a serious tone even though he was wearing an entire face full of shaving cream (and an Elvis wig to boot). It’s almost as though the pie is a verification that the player has accomplished something great. We could also get into the fact that it’s tradition, and has been around for some time. I can remember Roger McDowell doing all sorts of this stuff.

Why It’s Bush League: It’s been done. Burnett does it all the time. Victorino does it a lot. There seems to be a prankster on every team who has to make sure this gets accomplished after a guy has a big game. The problem is that there are too many variables involved. For instance, Burnett was smashing people’s faces with pie’s when he was going through an incredibly rough patch where he had an ERA north of 6. Do you really want to see him goofing off after a win when he’s basically going out every five days and hitting the showers by the 3rd inning? Or perhaps you are the Marlins, and yeah, Wes Helms came through with a big hit. Should the team really be joking around and goofing off when they just won a game to stay 7.5 games back instead of 8.5 in late July? If I’m a fan, I’d rather see them talking about trying to build some momentum. Use some of the time your putting into your cream pie shenanigans to look at some film of the pitcher you’re going to see the next night and try to put a streak together. Unfortunately for Marlins fans, now they are down a great player, something they definitely could not afford to lose. If the season wasn’t over before this game, it is now.

The Verdict: Bush league, but only in certain situations. Celebrating is for winners. If a team is in first place or within a couple games of first, it’s ok to celebrate with a little charisma. Who cares if you win a game if you’re still 8 games back with only a couple months to play? If the Marlins had crawled back into contention with a win like that, then I’m fine with it. But unless you are looking down on the other teams in your division, then there’s no room for goofing off. Taking it even further, if you are a player on a first place team but are not doing well, then you shouldn’t be doling out some cream pies. Get your act together on the field first before you start joking around off the field.

The Penalty: Teams and players that celebrate meaningless wins when they are nowhere near the top of the standings shall have those players involved get pied each and every game that they lose thereafter.