Surprise! Survey says 48 percent of baseball fans enjoy bat flips
The issue can finally be put to rest. The public has spoken: the majority of baseball fans enjoy bat flips.
Public Policy Polling, an American polling firm that primarily focuses on politics, does an annual sports poll to settle sports discussions once and for all (or at least until the following year).
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So, about those bat flips. 48% of the people polled said they’re pro-bat flip while 31% are of the same mind as Goose Gossage. Hooray for progress.
You can really see the shift when broken down generationally. 79% of “young fans” like bat flips compared to 9% who don’t. Seniors are against them 23% to 43%.
The bat flip verdict, however, wasn’t even the most surprising result from the poll. 65% are fans of National League rules and want to see pitchers hit. Only 25% stand with the DH.
At first, this seemed counterintuitive based on how bat flips were received, until we realized maybe they also want more pitcher’s flipping bats! A Bartolo Colon bat flip would absolutely have a 100% approval rating.
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Other divisive sports topics the poll touched on include whether Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens should be in the Hall of Fame (51% yes, 34% no), whether domestic violence or PED use is a more serious offense (68% domestic violence, 21% PEDs) and whether doing the wave is acceptable fan behaviour at games (56% yes, 18% no).
The sample size on this survey is small, but who are we to argue with the experts. Democracy. Isn’t it beautiful?
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr