Those watching the St. Louis Cardinals clinch their MLB Division series last night saw an unusual coda:
the Dodgers came onto the field to shake hands with their opponents.
As most hockey fans know, this is the norm for NHL playoff games. The idea to do it after last night's baseball game came from Cardinals right fielder (and native Canadian) Larry Walker. "Being a hockey fan, you watch teams in the playoffs beat the daylights out of each other and then they shake hands when it's all over," Walker said. "I brought it up to Tony the last time we played here in the regular season and I said, 'Take it or leave it.'"
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said:
It's the first time I've ever seen it and Larry Walker was responsible for it. He's a big hockey fan and he said that's how it's done there, where they beat the dickens out of each other.
LA manager Jim Tracy agreed: "It's something that you see a lot of, especially in the NHL, after you go through a series where you beat up on one another the way they do."
It's not often you will hear someone use hockey as a model of class. It's nice to see, even if everyone still connects the sport with daylights- and dickens-beatings.