Look: it’s hot as hell out there. Days are routinely in the 90s, the “feels like” temperatures are already pushing triple digits here in South Florida, and it’s barely the middle of spring. Baseball, a sport famously played outdoors and traditionally enjoyed while slowly baking in the summer sun, is also a game desperately in need of a little fun.
Bat flips and just a baseline expression of joy have slowly crept their way into a historically stuffy league. And now MLB fans, inspired by a specific subset of St. Louis Cardinals fans, have their own fun ritual perfect for a sport for which you’re expected to walk into a stadium with a ghostly pallor and walk out deep-fried.
As reported by the Associated Press, groups of mostly younger fans in stadiums across the country are whipping off their shirts and twirling them overhead, a nice change of pace from people just kind of idly staring at grass growing as a white ball occasionally moves rapidly across the sheets of green.
How the Tarps Off Trend Got Started With MLB Fans
The trend got started after a college baseball team attending a St. Louis Cardinals game, sitting in right field, decided to rip off their shirts to let their nipples breathe and soak in some springtime air. Soon, several other fans in the stadium did the same. The Cardinals would go on to win that game in a walk-off. The sports world can be a superstitious one, so if it worked once, better do it every single time, for the rest of your life, just in case, even if all evidence suggests that it’s not working.
Seattle, Detroit, Anaheim, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay. People were ripping off their shirts mid-game, in open rebellion against the oppressiveness of clothing. The fans in Anaheim, whose team currently has the worst record in the league, did it while chanting for their team’s owner to sell the franchise.
It’s nice to see fun eking its way into the game now and then, especially since the MLB’s natural state is to treat excitement like it violates league policy. Which means it’s only a matter of time before that actually happens.
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