Home Run Derby

Baseball is filled with gross habits. 

Crotch grabbing (which we photo-profiled a couple years ago) is one of them.  It’s a necessity, considering the protective equipment down there.

Spitting is another one.  I won’t go into all the reasons players spit (tobacco, sunflower seeds, disgust, anger, boredom) – but it happens.  A lot. 

And in many different ways. 

Horizontal Spit

Araron Miles and Rickie Weeks demonstrate the lateral spit.  You need some power to get that to go straight.

I’m not sure why Aaron Miles has to close his eyes.  Or why Weeks is spitting at JJ Hardy.

Walking Spit

As a kid, I always wondered how you didn’t walk into your spit.  I think it has something to do with momentum.

Great Expectations once defined Lastings Milledge’s career.  Now it’s just defined by Great Expectorations.

Meanwhile, Derek Jeter contributes to the layer of slime on the floor of the New York Yankees’ dugout.

Boredom Spit

Below, the Washington Natinals’ Ryan Zimmerman demonstrates the Whip-Spit. 

That is just cool. 

Baltimore Orioles’ catching wunder-prospect Matt Wieters has a spit that’s over a foot and a half long.

Gravity Spit

This usually is in conjunction with chewing tobacco or Big League Chew. 

The Cubs’ Ryan Theriot lets gravity do all the work before this at-bat.

The SF Giants’ Pedro Sandoval (aka Kung Fu Panda) wants you to know what the thinks about not being voted on the 2009 NL All-Star team.

Manny being Disgusting. 

Pitching with Spit

You don’t see the spitball anymore … because MLB made it illegal in 1921.

Angry Spit

But the most famous spit in baseball history came from the Baltimore Oriole Roberto Alomar, who spat in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck on Sept. 27, 1996. 

Alomar was suspended five games for the incident.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 9:55 am and is filed under MLB Weirdness, Sick and Wrong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.