There was an infamous scene in the legendary HBO series The Wire when the treacherous drug dealer Marlo Stanfield stole candy from a convenience store in front of the store’s security guard. The security guard — forced to do something, follows Marlo out of the store and basically pleads with him about his flagrant crime. Marlo looked the security guard in the eye and coldly said, “You want it to be one way.” The security guard was confused, so Marlo said again, “You want it to be one way.” Then he looked at the guard and said, “But it’s the other way.” Marlo proceeded to have the security guard killed. It is a truly sad set of events in the scripted series, but the analogy illuminates a significant problem I have observed this week in major league baseball.
Traditional baseball fans and traditional baseball media want baseball to be one way.
They want the game of their youth. They want the national pastime in a time machine. They want nostalgia. Pitch clocks? No, thank you. Sabermetrics? Pure jibber-jabber. Bat flips? Too much hotdogging. Big hats and home run celebration? That’s not the right way to play the game.
They want Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams. They want Robert Redford’s The Natural. They even want The Sandlot — who doesn’t love The Sandlot (I actually love The Sandlot). But that game is gone — and it is not coming back. Just like football is no longer “ground and pound.” Just as today’s NBA features 3-point shots on a fastbreak (which is considered a good shot), baseball is now showcasing its on-field flair in ways that have not been seen since — you guessed it: The Negro Leagues.
That brings me to Rays shortstop Wander Franco’s play on Pirates Brian Reynolds earlier this week. Franco fielded an absolute bullet up the middle from Reynolds and, with a super-smooth delivery, flipped the ball to himself — with crazy backspin, mind you – and fired a strike to the first baseman to ring up Reynolds with plenty of time. The play was smooth and flashy at the same damn time (S/O Future). It was something that most fans and commentators had never seen. It perfectly illustrates where the game is going — an infielders’ version of the bat flip.
I did not think much of the play when I first saw it. I still don’t. It was a smooth play made by an excellent player.
Do I want my 8-year-old coach-pitch team making that play? No. But I also do not want my youth basketball team shooting 3-pointers on a fastbreak. However, if I were Steve Kerr, and I had Curry and Thompson filling the lane on break for the Warriors, I would demand that they sprint to the 3-point line. Do you see the difference? Wander Franco is a pro. He is one of the best players in the game. And pros make difficult plays look easy. Salute that man.
Truth be told: The problem with the Franco play is not the play itself. The play was a routine 6-3 out — for those scoring at home. The problem with the play is that it forced baseball to determine where the sport is going.
Most people following baseball will tell you that the game has a problem attracting young fans. It has a problem attracting Black fans. Outside of baseball caps and locker room music, it has little connection to hip-hop culture (the world’s most dominant culture). Clearly, I agree. That is the primary reason I created the Black Baseball Mixtape. The game has drifted away from Black culture, while basketball and football have embraced the culture — albeit kicking and screaming.
Growing the game requires that the game change. The game has to change itself, and fans must change how they accept and appreciate it. Baseball has always been resistant to change — the fans and media being the most stubborn of all. The optimistic part of this reality is that the boys at MLB HQ in NYC know this. Commissioner Rob Manfred knows this, which is why you have seen the changes you have seen so far.
Wander Franco is a 22-year-old budding star. El Paton was a top international signing in 2017. He played in the MLB Futures All-Star Game in 2019. He was the #1 overall prospect in baseball in 2020. He finished 3rd in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2021 and played on the loaded, yet underachieving, Dominican Republic WBC team. And many people have NEVER heard of Franco — a few more this week.
They heard of him because he flipped a ball to himself, and the baseball media collectively lost their minds. It even crossed over to popular sports media. Imagine that — a baseball story getting barbershop talk in the middle of the NBA playoffs and the aftermath of the NFL draft. That reason alone is why we need more Franco flexing, not less.
Baseball must be relevant in popular culture — and we won’t get there highlighting the purity of baseball’s unwritten rules. Baseball needs Ronald Acuna Jr.’s bat flips. Jazz’s euro-steps HR trots. Mookie red carpet appearances. Marcus Stroman Twitter clap backs. Baseball needs more contemporary Black culture in the game. Basketball media did not immediately fall in love with Allen Iverson’s crossover (or Iverson himself), but look at where the NBA is today — there is no modern NBA without Iverson’s cross (or the Shammgod – I know hoop purest; I know).
Baseball says it wants more diversity in the game. Baseball says it wants more young people in the stands. Baseball says it wants a new generation of fandom — and let me be clear, Baseball does not want these things in the absence of its current fans. I genuinely believe that baseball wants to grow the game. But we must be honest about what that means and how that looks. It looks like Wander Franco’s play. Older baseball fans want the game to be one way — but it is already clear to me, as Marlo Stanfield stoically pointed out, “It’s the other way.”
