And the Oscar goes to...

With 16 games left in the Yankees’ 2010 season, and in a pivotal series against the Tampa Bay Rays (who currently lead the AL East division by a half game over the Yankees), Derek Jeter got hit on the elbow by a pitch and was awarded first base. Or so everybody thought. The only person who seemingly saw the play correctly was Rays’ manager, Joe Maddon, who got thrown out of the game for arguing (his argument was right on the money) that the ball hit the base of Jeter’s bat – not his elbow – and as such, he should not have been awarded first base. It goes without saying that, had instant replay been used in this situation, it would have taken the umpire less than 30 seconds to see the play correctly and make the right call. But this is not an article about whether or not instant replay should be used in Major League Baseball.

This article is addressing this one very specific play, the few minutes immediately after Jeter was “hit” by the pitch, and the sports world’s general reaction to the whole incident. Immediately after the pitch hit the base of his bat, Jeter flung his bat behind him, spun around and shook his elbow out. He then made his way off to the side, bent over with his hands on his knees and allowed a trainer to come out and find out what was “wrong with his elbow.” Based on his actions, the umpire deduced that he had been hit by the pitch and awarded him first base.

In the wake of this incident, there have been numerous baseball fans who have condemned Jeter’s actions, calling him a cheater and criticizing his integrity. Personally, I think all these people are being very hypocritical in their criticism on Jeter. All these critics act as though in a tight race for the division, in a pivotal series, and with their team down a run, they would not take any little advantage they could to try to help their team win. Jeter tried to gain an advantage for his team by acting a little. Players in every sport pull this acting job all the time. An outfielder traps the baseball between the grass and his glove, and holds up the ball trying to signify that he made the out in hopes that the umpire would call the batter out. A pitcher clearly throws a pitch outside the strike zone but the catcher catches the ball and tries to quickly slide it inside the strike zone in an attempt to influence the umpire to call a strike instead of a ball. A basketball player barely gets touched and falls to the ground under his goal in order to draw a charge on the player who was driving to the hoop. A football player catches a ball low in the end zone after it skips off the grass but holds the ball up in the air in an attempt to show the ref that he did indeed make the catch. We all see flopping and diving prevalent in soccer, with numerous teams earning game-winning penalty kicks off a perfectly orchestrated dive.

I could go on and on. But pointing out all these examples throughout sport is not to say that it is ok for this to be happening. I am just pointing out that it is the nature of the beast that is sports. As long as two sides are competing against each other people are going to try to push the boundaries to see what they can get away with. I am also pointing out for those who are condemning Jeter’s actions last night that this sort of acting does take place in baseball. Jeter was not the first baseball player to try to get away with something or try to gain an advantage for his team by acting a little, and he’s definitely not going to be the last. All tv remote-wielding critics need to realize that Jeter’s “antics” were nothing more than a passionate player’s attempts to get his team to the top of their division any creative way he could.