College baseball etiquette question

[WhatTheFrog]

Yes, I spelled that without spellcheck or a dictionary...

Is it ok to razz opposing players, especially in your home stadium?

I ask because I haven’t been to a TON of home baseball games, but I don’t really recall it happening. Maybe I’ve sat too far away or it’s understood that you don’t do that to student-athletes. I heard some on the tv broadcast during the Big 12 tournament (against our Frogs). I honestly don’t know.

It’s too hard to do in MLB games because there’s so much noise, distance, and they can’t hear you. Minor league games are great because it’s a more intimate atmosphere and they can hear you call out their number. They are getting paid to play, so I think it’s appropriate (no vulgarity).

What is the appropriate response regarding college baseball?

 

[RollToad]

We don’t know anything about baseball. We are a private school in a big city and in the Big 12.

In order to be the best at baseball you have to be a crappy state school in a tiny ass town and in the SEC.

 

[ThisIsOurTime]

Yes, it is ok to razz opposing players. College baseball isn't church or golf. Go to a UT baseball game sometime and you will see grandmas talking smack. Their fans even have little chants for common parts of the game like when a pitching coach talks to a struggling pitcher and they start a Leave Him In and Take Him Out chant. Basically, if you keep it clean and don't go overboard with it, razzing shouldn't be a problem.

The better ones at razzing are those who add some creativity to it and it can add to the overall experience. It should be good natured rather than mean spirited though. For example, I recall the Palmero family receiving some razzing about Raffy's alleged steroid past when we played NC State.

Examples of going too far should be fairly obvious but I can think of two in particular.
One is an example from a college football game when UT was playing WV and some of their fans started referring to the black quarterback of WV at the time as Caesar as in from the Planet of the Apes movie. But I think it had the opposite effect as it fired up the QB and think they ended up winning the game if memory serves.

Another was actually a story I was told in a high school game where one of the players happened to have his father recently killed when he was hit by a train. Some of the players (not fans) of the opposing team decided it was a good idea to make train noises during the game. Things went downhill quickly from there as you might expect.

 

[WhatTheFrog]

Yes, it is ok to razz opposing players. College baseball isn't church or golf. Go to a UT baseball game sometime and you will see grandmas talking smack. Their fans even have little chants for common parts of the game like when a pitching coach talks to a struggling pitcher and they start a Leave Him In and Take Him Out chant. Basically, if you keep it clean and don't go overboard with it, razzing shouldn't be a problem.

The better ones at razzing are those who add some creativity to it and it can add to the overall experience. It should be good natured rather than mean spirited though. For example, I recall the Palmero family receiving some razzing about Raffy's alleged steroid past when we played NC State.

Examples of going too far should be fairly obvious but I can think of two in particular.
One is an example from a college football game when UT was playing WV and some of their fans started referring to the black quarterback of WV at the time as Caesar as in from the Planet of the Apes movie. But I think it had the opposite effect as it fired up the QB and think they ended up winning the game if memory serves.

Another was actually a story I was told in a high school game where one of the players happened to have his father recently killed when he was hit by a train. Some of the players (not fans) of the opposing team decided it was a good idea to make train noises during the game. Things went downhill quickly from there as you might expect.

I agree that racist or VERY personal remarks about dead family members would definitely be "off-base". I'd never do something like that. I was just talking about good natured ribbing to try to get to a player and maybe get him off of his game, or at least make him chuckle and maybe distract him a bit.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

Yes, it is ok to razz opposing players. College baseball isn't church or golf. Go to a UT baseball game sometime and you will see grandmas talking smack. Their fans even have little chants for common parts of the game like when a pitching coach talks to a struggling pitcher and they start a Leave Him In and Take Him Out chant. Basically, if you keep it clean and don't go overboard with it, razzing shouldn't be a problem.

The better ones at razzing are those who add some creativity to it and it can add to the overall experience. It should be good natured rather than mean spirited though. For example, I recall the Palmero family receiving some razzing about Raffy's alleged steroid past when we played NC State.

Examples of going too far should be fairly obvious but I can think of two in particular.
One is an example from a college football game when UT was playing WV and some of their fans started referring to the black quarterback of WV at the time as Caesar as in from the Planet of the Apes movie. But I think it had the opposite effect as it fired up the QB and think they ended up winning the game if memory serves.

Another was actually a story I was told in a high school game where one of the players happened to have his father recently killed when he was hit by a train. Some of the players (not fans) of the opposing team decided it was a good idea to make train noises during the game. Things went downhill quickly from there as you might expect.

After studying the art of heckling from Farkas to present, and this is just an observation based on no scientific evaluation, I have concluded that people people that do this are like comedian wannabes fishing for laughs like people trolling for likes on social media. Sometimes they are funny, often not.

When Farkas had a small captive audience at the old field he could get some direct jabs in like the OU coach Enos Seymour that wore his pants really tight and Farkas kept calling him Enos the Penis. You could see Seymour getting self conscious (and Windegger chuckling). So much of the stuff today is just playing to the crowd and sometimes making our own coach mad, as this year when a comment was made about an opposing coach

 

[Pharm Frog]

"What is both surprising and delightful is that spectators are allowed, and even expected, to join in the vocal part of the game.... There is no reason why the field should not try to put the batsman off his stroke at the critical moment by neatly timed disparagements of his wife's fidelity and his mother's respectability." George Bernard Shaw

 

[hornedfrog86]

Wooo

 

[BrewingFrog]

I can remember sitting at a game at Tech some years ago, and the whole of the crowd (500 souls, total) were ragging on UH players in a fun, but not mean way. UH had a pitcher struggling, and the Coach tried to encourage him: "C'mon Chrissie!" The fans, however, reacted almost as one, shrieking "CHRISSIE!" in a hilarious falsetto and hollering it with every pitch. He collapsed, so a reliever was trotted in. This guy inherited a runner on 1st, so he tried a pick-off move that looked more like a bunny hop than a throwing move. The crowd then worked on various "rabbit" things, and quickly settled into the Bugs Bunny Opera line, "Kill The Wabbit!" Creative!

I also remember attending a Cubs game some years ago, when a fan near us in the bleachers hollered out to the SF center fielder, Brett Butler, that he couldn't hit the pitcher the Cubs had out that day. "You're batting a sparkling .043 against the curveball, Brett. .043! And this guy's got a good one. In fact, you've never gotten a hit off of him. Ever. You're going to strike out a lot today, Butler." He went on in this vein. Butler did not react, but his neck reddened. And, of course, Butler did strike out in his first at-bat. Our friend was waiting: "See, I told you you couldn't hit the curveball..." By the time Butler was 0-4, he turned around and screamed at the dude, totally losing his cool. Now that was effective heckling...

 

[froginmn]

Somebody has to have the video of the UT fan heckling, followed immediately by a TCU homer.

Greatness

 

[Pharm Frog]

I can remember sitting at a game at Tech some years ago, and the whole of the crowd (500 souls, total) were ragging on UH players in a fun, but not mean way. UH had a pitcher struggling, and the Coach tried to encourage him: "C'mon Chrissie!" The fans, however, reacted almost as one, shrieking "CHRISSIE!" in a hilarious falsetto and hollering it with every pitch. He collapsed, so a reliever was trotted in. This guy inherited a runner on 1st, so he tried a pick-off move that looked more like a bunny hop than a throwing move. The crowd then worked on various "rabbit" things, and quickly settled into the Bugs Bunny Opera line, "Kill The Wabbit!" Creative!

I also remember attending a Cubs game some years ago, when a fan near us in the bleachers hollered out to the SF center fielder, Brett Butler, that he couldn't hit the pitcher the Cubs had out that day. "You're batting a sparkling .043 against the curveball, Brett. .043! And this guy's got a good one. In fact, you've never gotten a hit off of him. Ever. You're going to strike out a lot today, Butler." He went on in this vein. Butler did not react, but his neck reddened. And, of course, Butler did strike out in his first at-bat. Our friend was waiting: "See, I told you you couldn't hit the curveball..." By the time Butler was 0-4, he turned around and screamed at the dude, totally losing his cool. Now that was effective heckling...

Best heckling I ever witnessed was at an Angelo State men's basketball game against Abilene Christian when the Wildcats had an All-American guard. Fans were on him from the time he was warming up and then disaster happened for the kid...he lost the handle on a driving layup attempt (probably knocked out of his hands) and the ball went over the backboard and then airballed his first shot from about 10' outside the arc. The fans had started in on the traditional airball chant but then he turned to the student section and said something. The fans (led by a couple of kids) started screaming "_______'s Crying" over and over and over. Would not stop (not just for seconds but for real minutes - not game clock minutes). The ACU coach eventually called a timeout and took him out seeing that he was losing poise by the second and he went over and put a towel over his head at the end of the bench. Mistake....fans got even louder screaming "Coach....________'s Crying". After what seemed like forever, he stands up and kicks over his chair and starts making his way to the scorer's table. Technical foul on the bench is called and the coach grabs him and tells him to go sit back down...which he did...by leaving for the locker room. Fans immediately switch to "Bring Back Quitter" and it continues for almost the entire rest of the first half.

Second half warmups start and he's back in their warm up line but doesn't start the second half. Fans start on a "Sixth Man" chant. But he's not the first off the bench and it changes to "Seventh Man" and then "Eighth Man" until he goes back in (game score isn't relevant at this point because it's already a huge lead for ASU). Kid picks up a hard foul within seconds of entering and coach pulls him again and he heads directly to the locker room after flipping off the fans and thus getting his second technical. Fans start chanting softly "Abilene" and then loudly "Christian" clap clap clap. And I was the PA announcer and remember this like yesterday because I was asked to repeat the "sportsmanship" announcement like three times and the fans would mock it by chanting "We aren't cussing! We aren’t cussing!" and "F is just a letter" followed by "F You ACU" and stuff. Their coach spoke at the ASU sports luncheon a year later and said that he'd never seen a player get so destroyed by fans like what happened that night.

Too long I know but one of my favorite PA announcer memories.

 

[Zubaz]

 

[Hump]

After studying the art of heckling from Farkas to present, and this is just an observation based on no scientific evaluation, I have concluded that people people that do this are like comedian wannabes fishing for laughs like people trolling for likes on social media. Sometimes they are funny, often not.

When Farkas had a small captive audience at the old field he could get some direct jabs in like the OU coach Enos Seymour that wore his pants really tight and Farkas kept calling him Enos the Penis. You could see Seymour getting self conscious (and Windegger chuckling). So much of the stuff today is just playing to the crowd and sometimes making our own coach mad, as this year when a comment was made about an opposing coach

Some of the best times EVER whilst undergradding in the Frogdom was witnessing Farkas "dress-down" the opposing squad. Nobody was safe!

 

[hometown frog]

Perfect example of this thread topic being a good home field advantage is SS Captain Phillips from Pepperdine. We got in that poor kids head and his bad play really opened a door for us and helped us win that super.

Good baseball heckling is an art form. When done correctly it’s funny, impersonal and effective. When it’s not good, it’s really bad.

 

[ThisIsOurTime]

I agree that racist or VERY personal remarks about dead family members would definitely be "off-base". I'd never do something like that. I was just talking about good natured ribbing to try to get to a player and maybe get him off of his game, or at least make him chuckle and maybe distract him a bit.

Usually, it is safer if you don't personalize it as you can say things like: three swings and a drink of water or just like the family horse, everybody gets a ride. There are lots of generic ones like that.

Of course, I have to admit the personal ones can be very funny. I remember a game in middle school where we had a guy on our team who had a really big nose. When he was up to bat, some girl chimed in after he swung and missed on a pitch, Why don't you try to hit it with your nose? Or in high school, we had a catcher spin around to catch a flyball but fell down rather goofy like. So the rival fans started calling him Grace and just like that he had a new nickname.

 

[Purp]

We have some fantastic hecklers in Lupton. I know Riggs has shared a lot of stories of heckling opposing bullpens down the RF line. I've had some great moments with right fielders behind the fence in the RF berm. When done right you can even get a laugh from the players. I have no problem at all with good heckling of the opponents.

Another poster alluded to it already, but Captain Philips may be the greatest heckle of all time in any baseball stadium. Poor kid couldn't tie his shoe without questioning himself if he did it right.

 

[Purp]

I can remember sitting at a game at Tech some years ago, and the whole of the crowd (500 souls, total) were ragging on UH players in a fun, but not mean way. UH had a pitcher struggling, and the Coach tried to encourage him: "C'mon Chrissie!" The fans, however, reacted almost as one, shrieking "CHRISSIE!" in a hilarious falsetto and hollering it with every pitch. He collapsed, so a reliever was trotted in. This guy inherited a runner on 1st, so he tried a pick-off move that looked more like a bunny hop than a throwing move. The crowd then worked on various "rabbit" things, and quickly settled into the Bugs Bunny Opera line, "Kill The Wabbit!" Creative!

I also remember attending a Cubs game some years ago, when a fan near us in the bleachers hollered out to the SF center fielder, Brett Butler, that he couldn't hit the pitcher the Cubs had out that day. "You're batting a sparkling .043 against the curveball, Brett. .043! And this guy's got a good one. In fact, you've never gotten a hit off of him. Ever. You're going to strike out a lot today, Butler." He went on in this vein. Butler did not react, but his neck reddened. And, of course, Butler did strike out in his first at-bat. Our friend was waiting: "See, I told you you couldn't hit the curveball..." By the time Butler was 0-4, he turned around and screamed at the dude, totally losing his cool. Now that was effective heckling...

Some years ago? Brett Butler in a Giants uni was late 80s. That's been some decades ago by now. I've got two SF Giants baseballs from the late 80s that the whole team autographed. Butler's signature is on both.

 

[PurplFrawg]

Back when Frank Erwin was getting his 3rd or 4th DWI in Austin, the rowdies in the stands would look over at him after the top of the fifth inning was over, stand up, and yell, "Hey Frank, it's the bottom of the Fifth!" and then simulate holding a whiskey bottle and tipping it all the way back. That never got old.

 

[Frog-in-law1995]

Back when Frank Erwin was getting his 3rd or 4th DWI in Austin, the rowdies in the stands would look over at him after the top of the fifth inning was over, stand up, and yell, "Hey Frank, it's the bottom of the Fifth!" and then simulate holding a whiskey bottle and tipping it all the way back. That never got old.

Really?

 

[PurplFrawg]

Well, it probably did to Frank. But he was so disliked by the students that they kept it going.

 

[Westsider]

Farkas was not beneath a well timed racial slur or a joke about a dead family member. The more recent the death, the better. You couldn’t say the things today that he said. They call it hate crimes now.