Richie Shaffer ignores silent treatment, celebrates home run by himself
Hitting your first major-league home run is a significant accomplishment. Players work hard to reach the big leagues, and going deep is an indication that maybe they have what it takes to stick in the majors.
[ELSEWHERE: A.J. Pierzynski really tried to convince an ump that this pitch was a strike.]
While those players have every right to be ecstatic, it’s become a bit of a tradition for their teammates to ignore the accomplishment. Any time a rookie hits their first career home run, they often receive the silent treatment from their teammates in the dugout.
Tampa Bay Rays rookie Richie Shaffer has heard of this ritual, and had a tremendous response after hitting the first home run of his career during Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.
We’ve seen players hand out imaginary high-fives in the past, but we’re not sure we’ve ever seen the point and “yeah” move before. For that, we have to give some major points to Shaffer.
The hit was actually the first in Shaffer’s major-league career, so it holds a significant amount of importance for the 24-year-old. For his sake, we hope he’s able to get that ball back.
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If there’s any reason for concern here, it’s that Shaffer set the bar too high for his future celebrations. The good thing is, next time, he’ll at least be able to involve his teammates.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
