John Kruk was just proudly praising the humility of Major League Baseball players, but he inadvertently emphasized one of the sport’s biggest issues.
Prior to the Philadelphia Phillies’ Sunday afternoon loss to the Los Angeles Angels, Kruk and play-by-play voice Tom McCarthy were discussing how good of a player Kyle Schwarber has been on and off the field. Kruk quickly noted Schwarber is a very team-first player who downplays his own greatness.
“So, we’ll just have to do it for him,” Kruk said.
Tom McCarthy: “The great ones allow everybody else to say how great they are.”
John Kruk: “Eh, not in every sport…I could get fired today.” pic.twitter.com/0a6uhxp1dL
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 21, 2025
“That’s exactly it,” McCarthy agreed. “That’s what they always say. The great ones allow everybody else to say how great they are.”
“Eh, not in every sport,” Kruk quickly interjected to draw a hearty chuckle out of McCarthy. “I could get fired today.”
Not wanting to risk getting fired, Kruk refrained from naming names or sports. Kruk isn’t alone on this. Many baseball fans claim they prefer the humility of MLB players over the broadcasted egos in some of the other sports. But baseball would benefit from having more ego and bold personalities.
Alex Rodriguez might be ready to put Rob Manfred in Cooperstown, but one of the biggest failures throughout his tenure as MLB commissioner has been an inability to develop more superstars. Sure, baseball has Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, but it’s not enough. Baseball needs to market their stars better and it starts with eliminating any of the “unwritten rules” that shame players for showing some personality or dare I even say, arrogance.
Hit a home run and put your head down to run around the bases before returning to the dugout quietly, and it’s just another home run. But hit a home run, toss the bat up in the air before charismatically jogging around the bases and everyone is still going to remember who hit that homer the next morning.
The NBA relishes letting players show their personalities, the NFL has stopped shaming players for celebrating. And it should be no surprise that the more WNBA players tell us how valuable they are, the more attention the league gets.
There’s nothing wrong with being humble. But players reminding the world how great they are isn’t something that should be frowned upon. And a little arrogance might be the best way for MLB to catch up with the other sports in being able to develop national stars.