Can I Interest You In Watching The Best Bat Flips Of The Decade?
I know the late December fatigue that come from all the Best Of The Year lists are about to get even worse with all the Best Of The Decade lists. But something about a piece of lumber being launched into the air mere milliseconds after it launched a piece of cowhide into the air just hits different. I could watch that video on loop from now until that giant crystal ball drops in the middle of Times Square around a bunch of idiots freezing their asses off and holding their piss in. Not only that, I could watch all the spinoffs to this video, whether its the pitcher's reaction to giving up a bat flip worthy tater, a video of the inevitable purpose pitches that followed each bat flip the next time the hitter came to the plate, or a video of Goose Gossage/Brian McCann/Insert Hardo Player Protecting The Unwritten Rules Of Baseball Here watching that video as smoke flies out of their ears.
My personal Top 5 Bat Flips from the video:
5. Tim Anderson
Violence personified. Anderson definitely has a case against the selection committee for being left out of any potential College Football Playoff with that legendary bat flip. But I will hit him with semantics and say since it's more of a throw than a flip, it doesn't crack my Top 4 because I really loved number 4.
4. Nick Castellanos
Casteyabos finishes above Anderson on my list because his unorthodox backhanded flip is smooth as hell as is the ump catching it as they go Dudley Boyz on that unsuspecting bat.
3. Yasiel Puig
This batflip is probably Top 5 based on it taking place on the biggest stage in baseball in Game 4 of the World Series the night after the longest game in postseason history. But the reaction of Puig and Eduardo Rodriguez are what make it truly legendary. Someone should print this picture out, title it "Joy Of Victory And The Agony Of Defeat", and duct tape it to a wall at Art Basel then wait for the bids to hit a billion dollars.
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Not pictured: The kajillion memes that came in the hours after that ball was hit. A true internet moment.
2. Yoenis Cespedes
What Tim Anderson's bat flip lacked in hangtime, Yo Cesedes' made up for in spades. I know some people will say I am being biased as a Mets fan. But I watched a physical specimen Cuban baseball player morph into the right-handed version of a an overweight white guy named George Herman Ruth as he put on the greatest contract push in sports before flipping his bat to the moon in an NLDS game where the entire home crowd was looking for blood after the assassination of Ruben Tejada by the coward Chase Utley. So Yo gets 2.
OK, I'm probably being biased. But if you get this type of look from the Sports Pope, you get a serious bump, ughkay?
1. Jose Bautista
We can argue about 2-5 on this list, but Jose Bautista is Number 1 with a bullet. If you hear/think the phrase "Bat Flip", you should immediately think of Jose Bautista taking Sam Dyson and the Rangers to Pound Town. Hell, if you are introducing someone to the game of baseball and Google baseball, that bat flip should be the first thing they see when learning the sport. I was sweating out this flip somehow being snubbed. But it not only made the cut but it was the closer as it had to be.