#11 – Carlos Gomez
When then-Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez smacked a home run deep into the seats at Turner Field in 2013, he tossed his bat to the side and trotted slowly around the bases. Braves pitcher Paul Maholm had hit him in their last meeting, and Gomez had some choice words for him about the retaliatory home run as the slugger made his way around the diamond.
Atlanta catcher Brian McCann, another self-designated enforcer of baseball’s unwritten rules, met Gomez partway down the third base line and got in his face, blocking the baseline and informing him that home runs must be observed with humility, no matter how satisfying they might be to the hitter.
The benches cleared, and even though McCann was really the one who got aggressive here, Gomez was declared the villain for his conduct during his home run trot.
Watch it for yourself here:
Now, this is far from the only incident of “hot-dogging it” that Gomez has been involved in. He’s upset plenty of teams and fans who don’t seem to appreciate his passion. Unless MLB becomes a lot more accepting of individuality, Gomez is going to be hated for quite a while.
Then again, as he might say – if you don’t want to see a home run celebration, keep the ball in the park.
Next: The Bat Flipper