Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson has too much fun playing baseball, and many of his opponents don’t like it.
Just over a week after breaking up Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander’s no-hit bid in the fifth inning and then attempting two steals and celebrating on base, Anderson has drawn the ire of another veteran — Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez.
Perez did not like that Anderson celebrated his leadoff home run on Saturday with an “(expletive), let’s go!” and he let Anderson know, causing the benches to clear. No punches were thrown and the two shook hands at the end.
But Perez, the 27-year-old catcher who in 2014 started the Royals’ tradition of dumping the contents of a Gatorade cooler over his teammate’s head to celebrate a win, was not happy that Anderson also did the same thing on opening day when he hit two home runs.
“As soon as he scored, I was like, ‘Hey, bro, that was the second time,’” Perez said according to The Kansas City Star. “He did that on opening day. He did the same thing. He said a bad word. He don’t even play a (expletive) playoff game. He don’t know about getting excited or not. He gotta be in the playoffs to be excited, like us. We got a World Series.”
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The 24-year-old Anderson said he didn't intend to offend anyone.
“I'm a leadoff guy so my job is to get my teammates going," Anderson told reporters. "It's not about them, it's about my teammates. I play the game with a lot of energy, lot of confidence. Just having fun.”
Against the Astros, Anderson clapped his hands after getting the hit, then attempted to steal second and third. When he got to second base via a walk, Anderson clapped his hands again.
"He was a little overaggressive and I let him know it," Verlander told reporters after that game on April 20. "I took offense to it."
Verlander said he wasn’t upset Anderson celebrated the hit, yet he mentioned some variation of celebrating several times in his postgame interview.
"He steals on 3-0 in a 5-0 game, that's probably not great baseball," Verlander said. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, I don't know. But he celebrated that, though. And it's like 'Hey, I'm not worried about you right now.”
So, let’s get this straight: Don’t try to steal bases in the middle of a game with your team down five runs. Definitely don’t exude any kind of happiness if you do get on base in said situation. And if you hit a home run, keep your mouth shut, because, honestly, you can only be excited if you've been in the playoffs.
Add a few more to the Unwritten Rules of Baseball.
