When did "bench jockeying" stop?

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I recently read Robert Creamer's Babe Ruth book. There was lots of descriptions of Ruth being yelled at by the opposing team from their dugout during games. I read lots of other baseball history books that mention bench jockeying. Ben Chapman was infamous for begin really nasty towards Jackie Robinson. I've sat near the dugout at games and I don't hear players today yelling at opposing batters. So when did this stop?

[Orioles5]

I have not been around a little league field in years but I hated when a team yelled " Hey batter, batter, batter, batter swing!" It was so stupid.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

I would think the 70's. Baseball after around 1980 seemed to get a little country clubbish.

I read the Wikipedia article on Ben Chapman and i'm not sure if all that is true but they do have a interesting bio on him.

[willshad]

I think it stopped once salaries started escalating to ridiculous levels. At a certain point ballplayers became more and more just businessmen whose business happened to be playing baseball, rather than athletes. Their salaries probably made them seem too 'sophisticated' for such actions.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I think it stopped once salaries started escalating to ridiculous levels. At a certain point ballplayers became more and more just businessmen whose business happened to be playing baseball, rather than athletes. Their salaries probably made them seem too 'sophisticated' for such actions.

I wonder if Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, Hank Greenberg, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Charlie Gehringer, Arky Vaughn, or Mel Ott, were too "sophisticated" to yell obscenities at opposing players?

[dgarza]

It's probably gotten so much louder in stadiums and parks these last several decades that trying to yell stuff out over top of all that noise is just not worth it.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

It's probably gotten so much louder in stadiums and parks these last several decades that trying to yell stuff out over top of all that noise is just not worth it.

Ya know that'a a good point. Who can yell over the newest Justin Beiber walk up song.

[dgarza]

Plus, so many players these days are non-native English speakers. English insults would not have the same bite. And vise versa.

[Ben Grimm]

I think it stopped once salaries started escalating to ridiculous levels. At a certain point ballplayers became more and more just businessmen whose business happened to be playing baseball, rather than athletes. Their salaries probably made them seem too 'sophisticated' for such actions.

This is my thinking as well. Once players saw multi-millions to be made, with the objects of those finger-pointing actions usually making the most, they tempered everything. The union has always been very strong and every player reaps rewards in dollars as the ladder effect takes place. The world is their oyster and players know this, which is why we even hear interviews with so and so player noting that this guy deserves every dollar he gets in free agency and such. It's the only game on the planet in which you can be simply mediocre in a high-demand position and still make multi-millions over a career. The game's a business both for the owners as well as the players - and both sides now treat it as such.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I would think the 70's. Baseball after around 1980 seemed to get a little country clubbish.

I read the Wikipedia article on Ben Chapman and i'm not sure if all that is true but they do have a interesting bio on him.

Yeah, I highly doubt Chapman ordered his pitchers to hit Robinson on 3-0 counts rather than walk. That would likely gotten Chapman fired and possibly banned. The NL did force Chapman to public-ally apologize and take photos with Robinson.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

This is my thinking as well. Once players saw multi-millions to be made, with the objects of those finger-pointing actions usually making the most, they tempered everything. The union has always been very strong and every player reaps rewards in dollars as the ladder effect takes place. The world is their oyster and players know this, which is why we even hear interviews with so and so player noting that this guy deserves every dollar he gets in free agency and such. It's the only game on the planet in which you can be simply mediocre in a high-demand position and still make multi-millions over a career. The game's a business both for the owners as well as the players - and both sides now treat it as such.

I don't understand this viewpoint. Baseball has ALWAYS been a business for well over a hundred years. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Joe DiMaggio had well known fights with their teams over salary. Ballplayers always treated baseball as a "business" since baseball became professional.

[dgarza]

Ballplayers always treated baseball as a "business" since baseball became professional.

True, players have always treated baseball as a business, but now they also see themselves as a business. That's a newer element.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Players have always treated baseball as a business, but now they also see themselves as a business.

That sounds the same to me. I assume you mean they see themselves as businessmen?

[ipitch]

I wish it would come back. Despite being against the rules, opponents joking around with each other before and during games is far too common for my liking.

[westsidegrounds]

I'm not sure it was all that big after say the first decade of the 1900s (when they were still winding down from the rough & tumble 1880s & 90s).

You'd try it on a rookie, to see if he had "rabbit ears", or on a confrontational guy like Cobb (but then again, "you didn't want to make him mad"), or on someone who had verbally attacked you (for example Ruth, before the "called shot" World Series, had publicly criticized the Cubs for not voting Mark Koenig a full share). As I recall, Chapman's Phillies were the only team to get on Robinson (as opposed to individuals on other teams).

By the time of Bouton's Ball Four, at least, the day of the bench jockey seems to have been over, although witty one-liners were appreciated.