Jose Bautista irks Kansas City fans by fake tossing ball into the stands
Jose Bautista has become one of the most beloved professional athletes in history in Toronto following his clutch home run and controversial bat flip in Game 5 of the American League Division Series. Toronto beat the Texas Rangers, in large part, because of the homer.
But Bautista isn’t winning many hearts and minds among baseball fans south of the border, and it’s not just because of the bat flip now.
Fans in Kansas City and others watching on television during the first game of ALCS Friday night took note and exception to Bautista faking out fans by pretending to throw the ball into the stands after he caught a fly ball to end the fifth inning. Earlier in the game he attracted attention for disagreeing with a called strike during an at-bat in which he struck out.
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Fans certainly aren’t entitled to the ball and we don’t know what kind of things might have been shouted at Bautista in that moment or earlier, but this wasn’t a great decision on his part regardless. It just looked bad and some, predictably, vented about it on Twitter.
Losing Respect For Jose Bautista by the second…
— Connor Bowen (@BowenArrow04) October 17, 2015
Anyone notice Bautista fake toss the ball to the KC fans after the last out of the 5th. Jerk move! #DoGooder
— Drink (@drink_h_two_oh) October 17, 2015
Jose Bautista is quickly turning into my least favorite baseball player
— Jake Lutz (@JakeOnY107) October 17, 2015
Jose Bautista needs to eat a Snickers
— Justin Stone (@justinstone31) October 17, 2015
Again, we should point out that it’s entirely possible Bautista planned to share the ball with a fan and decided against it at the last second because of something her heard or saw. Without knowing exactly what was going through his mind, it’s unfair to be too critical of the man, but it is fair to point out that Bautista is cementing himself into the role of villain in the eyes of opposing fans.
[Look: The entire city of Toronto has lost its mind over Jose Bautista’s bat flip]
It’s probably something he’s not going to mind much, considering that in order to be the villain to other fan bases, you’re generally impacting the game in a positive way for your team. Wonder what might be coming next from Bautista.
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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
