Bryce Harper's Bat Decals Are Illegal, Does Anyone Really Care?

Bryce Harper’s never-ending quest to “Make Baseball Fun Again” took another turn Monday night as he used personalized emoji-themed bat decals during a game. Unfortunately for the 23-year-old superstar, Major League Baseball banned personalized bat decals this offseason, making the young slugger’s bat ornamentation illegal. My question: who cares?

I mean, are Harper’s bat decals hurting anyone? It’s an emoji of “100” presumably to represent the fact that the reigning NL MVP is always “keeping it 100.” Are people up in arms and taking offense to this? Is baseball really so lame that players can’t express themselves in completely inoffensive ways? If the answer to any of those questions is “yes” I have a message to anyone replying as such: grow up.

Harper is trying to do something different and fun in a sport desperately trying to reach a younger audience, this seems like a win-win. Baseball can’t afford to look like a tired, stuffy sport when football and basketball appear fun and exciting. It’s a different world and America’s pastime needs to embrace change if it wants to survive and thrive.