What does Hamels mean by saying he was bringing back "old-school" baseball?

Cole Hamels/ SD Dirk/ flickr.com

Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels admitted to purposefully hitting Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper in the first inning of the game on May 6, 2012 in Washington. He labeled his actions as, "old-school," baseball. His actions earned him a five day suspension from Major League Baseball.

"I was trying to hit him. I'm not going to deny it. That's something I grew up watching, that's kind of what happened. So I'm just trying to continue the old baseball because I think some people are kind of getting away from it," said Hamels to the Washington Post.

What does Hamels mean by, "old-school baseball"?

He hadn't said a word since his suspension.

This term confused many people that watch baseball. In old-school baseball, pitchers didn't throw at batters to hit them. Instead, they threw high and tight so the batter won't be controlling the plate. Pitchers never wanted batters to be comfortable at the plate.

Not everyone is happy with what Hamels said. Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo was fined by Major League Baseball for his comment about Hamels. "I've never seen a more classless, gutless, chicken [expletive] act in my 30 years in baseball," Rizzo said to Washington Post. "Cole Hamels says he's old school? He's the polar opposite of old school. He's fake tough. He thinks he's going to intimidate us after hitting our 19-year-old rookie who's eight games into the big leagues? He doesn't know who he's dealing with."

Nationals manager, Davey Johnson, who played baseball when it was "old school," was asked about Hamels' comment. "From some things that happened in the past, I don't make a lot of comments on other people's comments," Johnson said to the Washington Times.

Even though Johnson did not want to make a lot of comments about others, he still shared more of his opinions to the Washington Times.

"Hamels making those comments, that's kind of a rare thing to ever happen. That was the most surprising thing. But there have been a lot of things that have changed over the years. That part of the game has changed considerably. I think it's all about prevention of injuries and whatever. And the game used to be policed more in-house. Now we have rules and umpires are trying to control the game more than the players. We used to handle it in-house."

Mets await for Santana's return

Johan Santana / tedkerwin

Johan Santana, a star player for the New York Mets suffered a rare baseball injury last season. Santana had a rough start to begin season, but was improving until his injury. He went through surgery on September 14th to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. Six months have gone by and Santana has still not fully recovered. According to general manager Sandy Alderson, Santana might return in late June or early July.

With baseball season only a couple weeks away, the New York Mets pray that Santana’s recovery will be quick because the Mets need veteran Santana's leadership this season. However, even if his shoulder is healed, Santana isn’t sure that he will be able to pitch like he did in his prime. Until Santana's return, the New York Mets will have to manage with Mike Pelfrey and Jonathon Niese. Hopefully Pelfrey will pitch the way he did at the beginning of last season, when he had a record of 9-1; but he will have to be more consistent to make up for Santana's absence.