In the United States, baseball can be a little uptight.
The old guard of the league – and even some old fashioned youngsters – can too often police the game, ridding it of any fun, spirit, backflips, and individuality.
“Act like you’ve been there” has become the rallying cry of these party-poopers, and they’re not all that few in numbers.
But the same isn’t true of baseball elsewhere the world. In Japan, for example, you can watch players literally backflip into home after launching a walk-off home run (called a “Sayonara Home Run” in Japan) … just like the founders intended.
Check out the moves from Kenji Akashi of Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks:
明石サヨナラホームランでバク宙ホームインwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww#sbhawks pic.twitter.com/9z16FyphQ7
— プロ野球おもしろ超速報 (@baseballchosoku) April 25, 2019
Softbank Hawks hitter Kenji Akashi was so happy he hit a sayonara 3R HR, he did some back flips as he crossed home plate https://t.co/0fPyRPP5ah #npb pic.twitter.com/qymfYnFg3n
— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) April 25, 2019
Tell me that wasn’t AWESOME.
Who wouldn’t love to see some of baseball’s beefy-er players do some somersaults or cartwheels into the plate after a big walk off hit. I know I would.