Rookie Hazing

Real Quick, Rookie "Hazing".
For it, or Agin' it?

I'm all for the version the Yankees indulged in.
New guy in the bullpen carries a pink backpack loaded with supplies: gum, chaw, seeds.
All rookies right at beginning of final road trip wear outlandish costumes [this year was Wizard of Oz]. No one is forced to participate, and it's all safe. Jeff Kent refused to participate as a rookie with the Mets, years ago, and revealed himself to be not a team player. This practice of rookie "hazing" builds camaraderie. It is a good thing.

Dangerous hazing that puts health and life at risk, I am not for. People being asked to drink until they die of alcohol poisoning is wrong. People being asked to lie down between lanes of traffic is wrong, and there are other examples.

Some people have lost friends and loved ones to dangerous hazing. For anyone who has suffered this loss, you have my heartfelt sympathy and my condolences.

Some readers at other sites have been rather vehement against the Yankees for the rookie "hazing" that occurs. These people are over-reacting. Baseball is a game of my team against your team, and there is a certain level of violence inherent. Collisions at home plate, a 90 MPH pitch coming in to the plate. Any winning team has some form of team-building. One wants to know and trust one's teammates. Ritualistic initiation, such as rookie "hazing" is a part of that. To say differently, to say that such things as rookie "hazing" or brushback pitches should be banned is indicative of a mind that truly does not understand baseball.