Most Gaudy Acts and Players Ever On the Diamond

[bluesky5]

I thought of Josh Hamilton coming to the plate to "The Natural" theme. The term gaudy came to mind.

Gaudy acts on the diamond that popped into my head:
Babe Ruth's called shot in the WS.
Pete Rose slugging Bud Harrelson in the NLCS.
Dick Williams ordering pitchers to throw at Pascual Perez 4 times.

Per Merriam-Webster:
1. ostentatiously or tastelessly ornamented
2. marked by extravagance or sometimes tasteless showiness : outlandish <gaudy lies> <gaudy claims>; also : exceptional <a gaudy batting average>

Synonyms: flamboyant, flaring, flashy, garish, glitzy, loud, noisy, ostentatious, razzle-dazzle, splashy, swanky

Share some events or players who most exemplify this quality.

*The batting average example was actually used on the dictionary website. Thought that was cool and worth a note.

[Cowtipper]

That stupid thing the Brewers did when Prince Fielder hit that game winning home run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWeRhih-jo

Basically any time someone watches their home runs for too long, too. You don't see pitchers staring at catcher's mitts for 12 seconds after they've struck someone out, so no need for a batter to watch his home run leave the yard for that long, either.

[dgarza]

Jimmy Piersall's 100th HR.

[bluesky5]

That stupid thing the Brewers did when Prince Fielder hit that game winning home run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWeRhih-jo

Basically any time someone watches their home runs for too long, too. You don't see pitchers staring at catcher's mitts for 12 seconds after they've struck someone out, so no need for a batter to watch his home run leave the yard for that long, either.

I like the video touch.

[dgarza]

You don't see pitchers staring at catcher's mitts for 12 seconds after they've struck someone out, so no need for a batter to watch his home run leave the yard for that long, either.

What about Pete Rose spiking the ball after his team makes the final out on the inning?

[GiambiJuice]

Basically any time someone watches their home runs for too long, too. You don't see pitchers staring at catcher's mitts for 12 seconds after they've struck someone out, so no need for a batter to watch his home run leave the yard for that long, either.

pitchers do plenty of showboating too.

[bluesky5]

From personal experience my senior year of high school we were trying to get the #1 seed in our district with 4-5 games to go. We are losing by 3 in the 5th [we play 7 innings] to our arch rivals, who aren't good. Their pitcher, who was being cocky on the mound, hits a grand slam and does a bat flip and a hop. Which leads to our head coach being tossed, which leads to both assistants being tossed. So the AD, who knows little about baseball, comes down from the stands to "coach" so the game doesn't end there. We rallied. Played 10 innings. Lost because it was a Thursday and all our pitchers ran out of innings.

[dgarza]

[filihok]

You don't see pitchers staring at catcher's mitts for 12 seconds after they've struck someone out

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110818&content_id=23394566&c_id=det

I don't really care.

I prefer the calm and collected approach, but if a player gets excited I don't see that as a bad thing.

[bluesky5]

Jimmy Piersall's 100th HR.

I did not know Jimmy Piersall was, well, whatever his deal was. Gaudy for sure.

Wiki:

On May 24, 1952, just before a game against the New York Yankees, Piersall engaged in a fistfight with Yankee infielder Billy Martin. Following the brawl, Piersall briefly scuffled with teammate Mickey McDermott in the Red Sox clubhouse. After several such incidents, Piersall was sent to the minor league Birmingham Barons on June 28. The final straw came when Piersall spanked the four-year-old son of teammate Vern Stephens in the Red Sox clubhouse during a game.
In less than three weeks with the Barons, Piersall was ejected on four occasions, the last coming after striking out in the second inning on July 16. Prior to his at-bat, he had acknowledged teammate Milt Bolling's home run by spraying a water pistol on home plate. Piersall then moved to the grandstand roof to heckle home plate umpire Neil Strocchia.
Receiving a three-day suspension, Piersall entered treatment three days later at the Westborough State Hospital in Massachusetts. Diagnosed with "nervous exhaustion," he would spend the next seven weeks in the facility and miss the remainder of the season. According to his autobiography, Piersall blamed much of his condition on his father, who pressured him as a small child to aim for success as a professional baseball player.
Piersall returned to the Red Sox in the 1953 season, finishing ninth in voting for the MVP Award, and remained a fixture in the starting lineup through 1958.
He once stepped up to bat wearing a Beatles wig and playing "air guitar" on his bat, led cheers for himself in the outfield during breaks in play, and "talked" to Babe Ruth behind the center field monuments at Yankee Stadium. In his autobiography, Piersall commented, "Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was going nuts. Who ever heard of Jimmy Piersall, until that happened?"

[9RoyHobbsRF]

That stupid thing the Brewers did when Prince Fielder hit that game winning home run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWeRhih-jo

Basically any time someone watches their home runs for too long, too. You don't see pitchers staring at catcher's mitts for 12 seconds after they've struck someone out, so no need for a batter to watch his home run leave the yard for that long, either.

plus 1

the thing was the Brewers were an under .500 team (64-70) and they resorted to a classless act (to match their piss-poor performance)

I can remember Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti staring endlessly at the antics and Giants announcer Mike Krukow ripping them unmercifully on air and in subsequent days for being totally classless and making a mockery of the game i.e. choreographed routine like female synchronized swimmers

[filihok]

choreographed routine like female synchronized swimmers

misogyny noted

[Dude Paskert]

Rabbit Maranville was well known for hamming it up big time for his whole (long) career...he would catch popups by letting them glance off his chest before they landed in his waist high glove (the vest pocket catch). He would sometimes sit on a baserunner for a few seconds after tagging him out, maybe patting him on the rump in sympathy. Rabbit would mimic umpires behind their backs to get the crowd laughing. These weren't one time events, but regular things for him. I forget who wrote that Maranville was probably the only ML manager who ever ran around on trains dumping buckets of ice on complete strangers. Rabbit was also buds with Jim Thorpe and the two men once spent an entire night swinging through trees at the house of a teammate who gave a party, were still out there when the sun came up.

Jeff "Penitentiary Face" Leonard's "dead arm" when running out HRs against the Cards in playoff games while with the Giants also comes to mind.

[GiambiJuice]

Willie Mays purposely wearing his cap loosely so it would fall off when he ran.

[Francoeurstein]

Man, he throws gas.