Similar to some of his MLB brethren during the ongoing negotiations about the possible restart of professional baseball, four-time All-Star Charlie Blackmon is refusing to shut his mouth.
Also, the Colorado Rockies outfielder wants everyone to know that, if the season does actually start, he’s going to keep spitting on the field with it.
MLB’s new proposed health and safety regulations ban players, coaches and other personnel from spitting, using smokeless tobacco or chewing sunflower seeds in restricted areas to avoid the spread of COVID-19 via saliva.
“Wait, what?” Blackmon said to Sports Illustrated when responding to the proposal. “I’m 100 percent gonna spit. That’s ingrained in my playing the game. Whether or not I’m dipping or chewing gum, I’m still gonna spit. I have to occupy my mind. It’s like putting things on autopilot. You see it like with Hunter Pence, where he would constantly be adjusting his uniform. I don’t have this idle time where my consciousness wanders. I fill my time with thought processes that are like a cruise control.”
It’s understandable that Blackmon, who was slated to earn $21 million this season but may have to settle for substantially less than that, is irritable about some of the safety protocols MLB has proposed in order to get players back on the field.
But, like Blake Snell and Bryce Harper before him, the 33-year-old would be a lot better off keeping his gripes with the league to himself in order to avoid coming off like a whiny millionaire who only cares about himself.
If Blackmon is planning to spit when MLB returns, so be it. Many players will probably do it whether they intend to or not and, if baseball is actually going to have a season, the league is going to need to accept that and not overreact.
However, by making it a point to say he’s going to blatantly disobey MLB’s safety regulations before games are even remotely close to being played, Blackmon is putting his foot in his mouth — whether he’s going to spit with it or not.
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