And the "lazy" one wasn't that bad - it was a comebacker and he would've been out easily no matter what. Nothing like the ones previous where Puig took one step and then turned around, or where Robert clearly would have been safe had he been running.
Upton ended up having the career he deserved in his last 5 years or so in the league. I mean he was a trendsetter though at least. He was hitting .190-.220 before it was considered cool. 😂😂😂
The late Mike Shannon, who played for the Cardinals in the 60's and was a broadcaster for many years, told a story about when he was in the minors and dogged it going down to first when he popped up on the infield. His manager, Harry Walker-who was a decent MLB player in the 40's-told him "you know, this game can be hard to play. Hitting good pitching is really tough. Running to the gap and the warning track to catch a fly ball is hard,not many people can do it. But hustling isn't hard to do. Anyone can hustle, as long as they want to." Shannon said he never loafed again.
@@clarenceboddicker1162 I live about an hour east from St. Louis, Missouri. Even though I am in Illinois, I still identify as a St. Louisian. I still have not gone to the current Busch Stadium, though.
The first Rays game I ever saw, BJ Upton let a ball bounce that I could have easily caught with a gentle dive, and I'm 60 years old. BJ was about 20 at the time. Laziest player in history!
He knew he was made of glass. He got injured later and had a very subpar last several year ending to his career. A career that did pay him $100m so he didn't want to get hurt earlier.
I agree. He was their ace starting pitcher at the time. If he hustles and pulls a hamstring and spends 2 months on the DL, he'd have been pilloried for foolishly running hard on a sure out.
I feel like a lot of the players on this list were having a moment of “I’m too good to run this out,” but that just wasn’t really an attitude I’d associate with Cliff Lee.
I don't think it's really that unlikely at all actually. Especially when it's right back to the pitcher- those throws to first are so sporadic that I feel like it's more often 30/70 that the throw isn't going to be on target. I'm surprised all of these clips don't end with the player getting benched
If the runner is going flat out towards first, it gives the defense less time to recover and make the play which can easily lead to an error. Best case scenario for the runner is an overthrown ball that will allow him additional bases.
@@Rick_King Longtime Pirate fan, longtime Reds hater, longtime Rose hater, but, yes, Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame, he was too good not to be.
@@pardieupopper339 I'm a lifelong Dodgers fan, with season seats from 1978-1983. I saw Pete Rose devastate our Dodgers so many times, and I hated him then! But he's one of the all-time greats, and any sins have already been atoned. Let him in the Hall!
I remember my little league coach chewing me out one time when a pop fly got hit to center field for not running from my position in right field to back up our center fielder. His words were "That's the effin reason why we don't put you anywhere else than right field!".
When I was 11, during the summer, my playground team challenged another playground team to a game ... and to this day I remember being enraged at our center fielder for jogging after a ball that he missed and went past him!
Not shocking. Puig rarely played well or paid attention. The laziest and most unfocused player I've ever seen. Dodgers told him to sit out a whole season uninjured he was such a head case.
When Andruw Jones was a rookie, he casually let a bloop into Centerfield drop in front of him. Bobby Cox pulled him out of the game on the spot. Didn’t many balls drop in front of him after that. He went on to be arguably the best Center Fielder to play the game.
When Chip Caray was doing the play-by-play for the Atlanta Braves, he often quoted his grandfather (and in Harry Caray's voice), "They pay you a lot of money to run hard to first base four times a game." The Braves fans' loss is the Cardinals fans' gain.
Players getting paid millions and don't even try to hustle...That was the first thing that I was taught when playing baseball. Always hustle because you never know what will happen...Sicking !!
I umpired baseball and softball for 30 years and I saw some egregious examples of lack of hustle. The one that sticks in my mind was in a men's softball game. The first batter of the inning hit a pop-up to the second baseman. The batter assumed it would be caught, so he jogged directly to his bench. However, the second baseman dropped to he ball--but he was able to pick it up and run to first base himself for the easy putout because the batter had long given up on the play. Let's just say his teammates weren't happy.
yep. I also love how Heyward, who has always been super professional right away says he messed up. Meanwhile a clown like Upton can't deal with being called out for his laziness.
An unnamed former Dodger player called Puig "...the worst person I've ever seen in this game. Ever." You would think someone from Cuba would be so thankful for the opportunity to play professional baseball in the U.S. for millions of dollars that he would be the exact opposite.
His head was probably out of the game on that play. Even great players have their moments. Jonah Heim is one of the better catchers in baseball, and he let the ball go against the Cubs. It happens.
to be fair, I dont fault cliff lee for not moving down the bases. Dont want a starter hurting themselves trying to leg out something right to a fielder
@@mediochreeuchre8391 awesome! I recall I was at my grandparents watching the game, and was completely confused why he did that (being a kid af the time)
I remember a game where someone hit a shot to center that Andruw Jones might have been able to catch if he tried. But he just ran a couple steps forward then jogged and grabbed it after a couple hops. Bobby Cox then called time, stepped out of the dugout, and motioned to Jones to get downstairs. Pulled him right out of the game.
@@af4jmpuig is a dipsht, but he was clearly out. The pitcher can't fck that up. It was funny how he just turned and headed to the dugout though. Not defending that. Defending the lack of hustle.
I remember a play in the 2002 World Series. One of the Angels hit a Texas leaguer into left field. Barry Bond didn't even try to catch the ball. Willie Mays would have caught it... from center. Also, Bryce Harper hitting a routine fly ball, and not running it out. Supposedly great ballplayers excelling in laziness.
As great as Bonds was, he was one of the laziest players ever to play the game. And one of the biggest jerks. Treated clubhouse personnel like absolute garbage.
@@dantheman5745 I remember once he got all roided up, he never ran much at all. He would hit the ball off the wall and end up jogging into first for a single.
Lack of hustle is unforgivable in Baseball, more than most any other sport because there isn't constant motion, so there is no excuse of being tired to not give 100% on every play. Most of the time, you are just standing around waiting for something that involves you to do something.
I can't believe that more player don't understand that if you put more pressure on the defense, they're more likely to make mistakes. Run every play out at full speed.
The answer to all this is obvious: MLB players are simply not being paid enough. This "job action" is the only practical means available to them to protest that fact. Short of a downright strike, it's their version of a "work stoppage".
Jeter staring down ARod and jogging back to position thinking he caught it is one of my favorite moments ever lmao dude had no idea the ball bounced ten feet behind him
There was a very recent game -- last season, I think -- in which a ball was hit over the head of the center fielder for Boston, and the guy basically just stood there pointing atit while the left fielder ran over to pick it up.
Other than Matt Williams, the manager of every player is directly responsible for the lack of hustle...as there is no consequence. Cleon Jones loafed after a ball in 1969, and Gil Hodges walked to leftfield and physically escorted him off the field. We need more of that.
I remember watching Cubs games back in the late 80s and early 90s. Shawn Dunston would sometimes do what Bryce Harper did on a routine single. If he saw the outfielder wasn't hustling to get to the ball, he would run hard and turn a single into a double. He had enough speed to make it most of the time.
BJ Upton always had speed and athleticism. He was one of the fastest players in baseball in his prime. That's part of what makes plays like that so frustrating.
Dude was all about hustle until he was seriously injured for it twice early in his career. Every clip you find of him not hustling is post those injuries.
I remember a play in the 1980s by then-Pirate George Hendrick who put hardly any effort into stopping a ball from rolling up the line past him. The Pirates color announcer Jim Rooker described Hendrick's lack of effort during the reply as "he half-ass.... er, he barely tried to stop that ball." My memory is that he began to pronounce the "s" sound in ass, but maybe I'm mis-remembering. He did at the very least pronounce the "a".
That last one isn’t a lack of hustle play it’s just a brainfart on Jeter. A-Rod had perfect positioning and Jeter should have had some presence of mind to not bump into him.
it's down to communication, one of them was supposed to give way to the other, A-rod has perfect positioning but the sun is a big factor there and Jeter is tracking the ball much better than A-rod, so if Jeter called him off A-rod needed to move out of the way,
Best one I ever saw was Ricky Henderson dogging it after a base hit and turning it into a double. Manager Pinella subs him right off the field in mid-inning.
Puig making this video more than once showed you he never tried hard enough. Such a great talent but didn't put in the work to be an all-time great player.
Cliff Lee was the one of if not the best outcher in baseball when he was with Philadelphia. He was probably throwing a shitout and wanted to get back to the mound
The score was Cincinnati 1 and Philadelphia 0 at the time of that at-bat and regardless if you are getting paid to be a dominant athlete then you play like one!
The score was Cincinnati 1 and Philadelphia 0 at the time of that at-bat and regardless if you are getting paid to be a dominant athlete then you play like one!
The Jeter one wasn’t a lazy play, Jeter thought arod caught it, he was even headed back to the dugout, this was all explained in the post game, I’m not even a Yankees fan and I hate Jeter but I just hate when people just add clips for the hell of it
Nah Jeter just kinda played it off In reality he was actually livid that A-Rod got in his way but played dumb to the media because he isn’t the type of guy to throw someone under the bus like that. Even if the guy was his former best friend
@@SplicerOtter uh... that was very clearly Arod's ball... jeter messed up that play entirely. Arod had the ball if jeter hadn't whacked his glove and ran over to field Arods play
They all do this now though. It's like all of a sudden last year or the year before, running out ground balls is mostly optional. A player won't get benched for not hustling today.
Now, on the first Harper clip, if he had been sprinting anyways and twisted his ankle or some such, he'd be crucified for getting himself injured on a guaranteed out...
The epitome of lack of hustle is Reggie Jackson of the Yankees and Billy Martin yanking him out immediately after. On the other hand, Pete Rose is nicknamed "Charlie Hustle". Who's in and Who's not in the Hall of Fame.
Huge difference: 3:15 - Jason Hayward takes full responsibility for his mistake. Even with the boos coming down he takes it like an adult. 2:20 - BJ Upton acting like a complete punk for being rightfully criticized.
Missing the one where Jarren Duran of the Boston Red Sox lost track of a fly ball and gave up on the play, resulting in Raimel Tapia of the Blue Jays scoring an inside-the-park grand slam.
Darryl Strawberry was a Dodger when Tommy LaSorda was the manager. LaSorda said he'd rather have a dog in right field because a dog actually ran after a ball. Cleon Jones played left field for the Mets in the late 1960's and early 1970's. He was their best every day player. In one game Jones jogged after a ball. Immediately the manager Gil Hodges, called time and with his hands in his pockets walked slowly to left field. After a brief discussion, Mr. Hodges walked Jones off the field. He was pulled for lack of hustle. It never happened again. In this video, Harper is shown twice. First time he didn't run hard to first base and was removed from the game. Second time he busted it and stretched a single into a double when the right fielder loafed. When Puig didn't leave the batters box he walked right past the manager, Terry Francona and coach and no one said anything to him. In fact, Francona went to him on the bench and put his arm around him to "console" him. Disgusting. No discipline. No consequences for their actions. Managers are also to blame for this pathetic display.
I like how they want the big money contract and say how disrespected they are when it isn’t offered,But after they are signed it becomes to much of an effort to hustle .
Exactly it should be the first offense you get chewed out for not hustling. 2nd offense you get benched for the rest of the game and/or next game depending on when it happens in game.3rd offense you get benched for the rest of the game and the next few games after that. Anything after that you get cut. Your professional players act like it
Wrong. Keith Hernandez, Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, many other equally lazy players in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. And rarely did anyone even call them on it.
@@RurbanWalker Bullshit. You got benched and dragged through the press back then if anyone played as poorly as today's players. Keith and Reggie were winners. A 1B doesn't get to bunts left of the mound without hustling. I'll give ya Bonds after the Pirates years.
@kingcassius2586 sorry to burst your bubble, but I lived in NYC in the 70s and 80s and watched plenty of NY baseball those years. Hernandez and Jackson may have been winners but neither were hustlers. If Hernandez hit a ground ball he rarely made it halfway up the baseline. And Jackson's instances of dogging it in right field are pretty well documented. I'm surprised you're not familiar with them. He also hit a ball off the outfield wall and ended up only with a single cause he stared at it expecting a HR - this happened more than once. He was quite notorious for it actually, and many Yankee fans hated him for it despite his power. Also, don't forget about Rickey Henderson, another pre-2000 guy who consistently loafed in the outfield but whose laziness was tolerated by coaches since he produced offensively.
@@RurbanWalker No bubble bursted except for the bubble of logic and reality. I *also* grew up in the 70s & 80s and I beg to differ. No one who was bothered by the hustle of yesterday's players wouldn't be bothered by players in an era in which loafing is the standard style of play. That makes no sense. "Equally lazy" 😆🤣🤭🤤😉
@kingcassius2586 add Darryl Strawberry to the list, (a guy so notorious for lack of hustle the Simpsons satiricaly portrayed him as a hustler). And I'm just recalling NY players. I recollect also Jim Rice not hustling in the field. Also, Darrel Evans though that was just one particular instance and not necessarily a pattern. Remember Dave Kingman. He was thrown out at first with the rare 8-3 put out. These are just the instances I remember. Those days had just as egregious instances of laziness as today.
