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Rangers featured in story on baseball's "culture clash"

Jorge Ortiz has a piece in the USA Today about the "culture clash" in baseball

By Adam J. Morris

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Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Jorge Ortiz has a piece in today's USA Today on the "culture clash" that has arisen in MLB, which includes some quotes from Ranger catcher Chris Gimenez and references to a couple of episodes involving the Rangers.

The article has generated a lot of talk today, in no small part due to pitcher Bud Norris taking a somewhat hard-line stance as a defender of the "right way" to play:

Count San Diego Padres pitcher Bud Norris among them. In a conversation about what’s proper on-field behavior and what’s not, Norris mentioned Gomez as a particularly egregious violator of the rules. While praising Gomez’s ability, Norris said some of his actions are disrespectful.

When the told the large majority of the benches-clearing incidents involved players of different backgrounds, Norris nodded knowingly.

“I think it’s a culture shock,’’ Norris said. “This is America’s game. This is America’s pastime, and over the last 10-15 years we’ve seen a very big world influence in this game, which we as a union and as players appreciate. We’re opening this game to everyone that can play. However, if you’re going to come into our country and make our American dollars, you need to respect a game that has been here for over a hundred years, and I think sometimes that can be misconstrued. There are some players that have antics, that have done things over the years that we don’t necessarily agree with.

Norris, you may recall, was one of those who complained about Jonathan Singleton signing a contract in 2014 some saw as below-market, saying Singleton should have "listened to the union and not his agent."

Meanwhile, also on the subject of "culture clash," though in a different way, we have a piece detailing the problems the Washington Nationals players had with manager Matt Williams this season, as well as the dissatisfaction with how the organization treated certain players who had come up through the organization -- in particular Drew Storen, who was displaced by controversial outsider Jonathan Papelbon.