Phil Hughes has become notorious for speaking his mind on Twitter. But on Tuesday, he took it to a new level.
In baseball, there are some things that you just don’t do. Unwritten rules, we call them. Former Yankees and Twins pitcher Phil Hughes just broke one of those unwritten rules and the response was, well, what you’d expect.
Hughes asked his Twitter followers for their most unpopular opinions. After reacting to some of their opinions, he bravely spouted his own: that Wrigley Park and Fenway Park both “suck.”
Understandably, his Twitter mentions went up in flames in the moments thereafter.
It’s easy to understand the backlash. Wrigley and Fenway are arguably the two most storied ballparks ever, each in operation for over 100 years. Both standing strong since the early 1900s, they have each been the subject of baseball folklore for a century.
It feels like a cardinal sin to speak down on either of them.
But that didn’t stop Hughes. He even doubled down on his claim, firing shots right back at angry followers:
ESPN personality John Buccigross even wanted to throw his 2 cents in, but Hughes still wasn’t backing down:
Admittedly, you don’t have to venture too far into your imagination to find where Hughes is coming from. Sure, these parks have been renovated in recent years, but they’re still a century old. The amenities and technology don’t come close to rivaling those of newer ballparks.
But still … really, Phil? Wrigley and Fenway? Something about bashing them just feels downright disrespectful. But, in all reality, Hughes probably isn’t the only guy in the league who felt this way. He’s just he only who was brave enough to speak on it.
Hughes got a rise out of the Twitter-sphere and there’s a good chance that’s all he was hoping for, anyway.