Today Jim Salisbury wrote about how former assistant pitching coach, now pitching coach Rick Kranitz has instituted something called the Sensitive Bus in the clubhouse. You can read everything Jim wrote about it here, but I will let Kranitz’s own words describe it.
“You know, sometimes guys get a little sensitive about things,” Kranitz said. “They start jabbing each other a little, getting under each others’ skin. It doesn’t even have to be about baseball. You have to have tough skin. The boys, they don’t ever want the bus in their locker.”
“If somebody gets on somebody’s nerves and there’s some sensitivity, I’ll just go get it and put it in their locker,”
It is not surprising that there is some sort of punishment ritual in baseball clubhouse. A yellow plastic bus is not the same as the sexual abuse that occurred at the Rangers’ Dominican academy, and it is on par with the Kangaroo Courts that have long perpetuated in sports. That doesn’t mean that it is a thing that has to exist.
We can return to Kranitz’s definition, this is a way of pointing out which of “the boys” doesn’t have “tough skin”, and is sensitive. Having tough skin isn’t something that is bad for a pitcher, and frankly it is probably good when you have fans yelling at you that you suck and you are facing failure or at least a chance at it everyday. We expect baseball players to forget about yesterday’s struggles and move on to the next day. Putting a little yellow bus with a whining emoji on it on top of a guy’s locker isn’t exactly making someone tougher to criticism.
What this is all saying is that people, and in this case particularly men, should just not show any sort of reaction to this sort of thing. That they are to hide what they actually feel, because that is the right thing to do. More than that, it puts the onus on that one that feels something to not feel it, not on the person that is getting some reaction to think about what they are communicating. It puts the power in the hands of the abuser to determine what is considered the norms of communication.
But what do I know, I am not the clubhouse, I don’t interact with the players on a daily basis, I don’t know what makes them tick. This little yellow bus could be a good reminder to pitchers to let criticism roll off of them, to not listen to whatever a WIP caller has to say about them. But it is caged in traditional norms of masculinity. To show emotion is bad, it is weakness, and it is to be frowned upon and shamed. Yesterday Meghan Montemurro wrote a great piece highlighting Dana Parks and the challenges of gender diversity in MLB organizations. We will continue to have those kind of divides within teams as long as we continue to see traditional and toxic gender norms and ideals as the expectations.
So a little yellow bus may be harmless, but the sentiments and message behind it are not, and we should not accept them in the workplaces of our sports teams or the workplaces of any job.
“Putting a little yellow bus with a whining emoji on it on top of a guy’s locker isn’t exactly making someone tougher to criticism.”
Sure it is. Or at least it can be, if done the right way. There is such a thing as being too sensitive, there is such a thing as whining. Lord knows I’ve done both myself, and I’m glad I had people who told me to get over it. Something like this could be an enraging mark of shame … or it could be a joking, fun way of encouraging someone to lighten up. We have no way of knowing which this is.
“What this is all saying is that people, and in this case particularly men, should just not show any sort of reaction to this sort of thing.”
Nonsense. That’s you, jumping to the extreme. “Joe Blow says he doesn’t like hiphop … clearly he must be a racist!”
“It puts the power in the hands of the abuser …”
And now you’ve jumped all the way to “abuse.” Joe Blow must be a Klan member!
I think most people are capable of understanding that rejecting one extreme does not entail embracing the other. This isn’t an election, where you have to choose between asshole #1 and asshole #2. You can actually aim for a normal, healthy middle. You can reject alcoholism without saying “never have a drink.”
“We will continue to have those kind of divides within teams as long as we continue to see traditional and toxic gender norms and ideals as the expectations.”
In other words, everything will be bad until everyone adopts your preferred ideology. Good luck with that.
Thanks so much for this article — I always appreciate it when a writer can articulate my thoughts better than I can!
I find this edition of the Phillies incredibly grating and unpleasant to follow already. Certainly the Eagles winning the Super Bowl plays a major role in this. They shifted the environment for all Philly teams, and the Phillies seem determined not to adjust:
– The owner, a billionaire with enough cash lying around to pay his estranged sister $22 million to go away, says with a straight face that he wants to spend more on the team but he just can’t.
– The general manager is a walking, talking embodiment of white, male privilege with a resume that checks all the boxes – Ivy League degree, young, did I mention white and male? — and three years of desultory results: terrible trades (Giles for a bag of magic beans, Morton, Buchholz), expensive free agent failures (Saunders, Benoit), costly market misreadings (Hellickson accepts arbitration, no one wants their surplus outfielders), and general indecisiveness (extend Mackanin then fire him four months later. Practically every young player of note on or near the 25-man roster was acquired by RAJ. The man who preaches patience and building through young talent spends more than $90 million on three 30-something veterans — then argues the team doesn’t need another veteran starter and needs more time to develop even though they are possibly within striking distance of the wild card hunt.
– A musclehead bro of a rookie manager who has read far too many thinkovation thought leadership articles on LinkedIn and is frantically trying to DISRUPT the game. God, I would hate having a boss like Kapler. He has the players working as social media managers for Chrissakes! What. A. Tool.
On top of that, you have a media that is completely derelict in its duty. They are awed by Kapler — probably because no working environment is less innovative than a newspaper room so anything that looks like it came from a TED talk is amazing to them. There’s no journalistic skepticism about Kapler, Klentak, the semi-retired CEO MacPhail and Mongo, the Owner Who Is Only Pawn in Game of Life. You’d think after the snake oil peddled by Hinkie and Chip they would know better. Nope.
But the Eagles have changed everything. And the Sixers and Flyers noticed. They added players for their playoff runs because they know that Philly fans no longer have the patience to wait for a rebuild.
The Phillies? They actually believe people will wait another year for maybe, possibly a wild card run! It’s easy to understand why: They make so much money from their local television contract and their share of MLB revenues that as long as they keep their payroll down all is well.
What I can’t accept is the stupid owner, GM and manager — not in the era of Lurie, Roseman and Pederson.
“But what do I know, I am not the clubhouse, I don’t interact with the players on a daily basis, I don’t know what makes them tick.”
Exactly.
Everything else is speculation. In fact, it is the exact sort of speculation the yellow bus is probably designed to make these grown men ignore.
Love your work, Matt. Seriously. It’s informed by analytical knowledge and close observation. I’m a little surprised you’d write this without actually speaking to a single player about it; with zero observation and not a whit of analysis. This sort of thing is the opposite of what I tend to really enjoy in your work.