With all of the new rules and other changes coming to Major League Baseball this season, it's been nice to see the games progress more quickly and be livelier overall.
Baseball has always been a sport of "unwritten rules." Still, seeing a younger group of players enjoying it their way has been exciting. Oh, to be young again. Am I right?
Speaking of young players enjoying themselves, one of the youngest teams in the league is the Baltimore Orioles. They have one of the lowest average team ages in baseball, led by youngsters like Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays. In fact, they have just two active players born in the '80s. Heading into the season, the youngest player in the American League was Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who will turn 22 on June 29.
This is all relevant because we saw a clubhouse celebration that you might not see all too often in a sport that tends to focus more on "tradition" and "professionalism" — whatever that means. Behold, a celebration called the "Dong Bong" or "Homer Hose."
Baltimore's Beer Bong Celebration: The "Dong Bong"
?We?re just huge proponents of staying hydrated? - Adley Rutschman pic.twitter.com/nJd9kbXMze
— Bush Leaguer (@BushLeague101) April 11, 2023
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On Monday, the Orioles were taking on the Oakland Athletics at home. In the bottom of the first, the Orioles were down 1-0, but Ryan Mountcastle changed that with just one swing. Mountcastle blasted a two-run home run that traveled 421 feet.
When he returned to the dugout, a fellow player got an orange-and-black beer bong ready for Mountcastle. The fellow player then dumped a clear liquid into it, which Mountcastle happily chugged. Rutschman then went yard a couple innings later and happily hydrated himself.
Many will say it was water — but who knows? Let's pretend it was vodka to complete the entire bit. Why not?
To make matters more fun, the incident was posted on the team's official Twitter account.
Come for the home run, stay for the celly. pic.twitter.com/WVtTCQYzRy
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) April 10, 2023
Will Commissioner Rob Manfred be cool with this? Eh, who cares? It was posted on the team's official Twitter account, so it would seem to be OK — but who knows?
While the celebration has been coined the "Dong Bong" on Twitter, one Oriole set the record straight on the name. Pitcher Kyle Gibson said it's actually called the "Homer Hose."
"We want to make sure that it's rebranded a little bit. It's a 'homer hose,' not a, uh, a 'dong bong,'" Gibson told The Baltimore Sun's Jacob Calvin Meyer.
"So it's a homer hose, just like as a kid, you go out back, you take a drink from the water hose after you play outside playing whiffle ball. So we've got a turn the water faucet on celebration when you hit a single, we've got a sprinkler when you hit an extra-base hit, and then it's a homer hose when you hit a homer, just so we know that we get that straight."
At this rate, the water bill at Orioles Park at Camden Yards is set to be pretty darn high the way the O's are launching balls.
The Orioles are 5-5 and five games back of the 10-0 Rays in the American League East. But hey, at least they have the best home run celebration in baseball right now.
