A couple weeks ago, I was watching a recap of a game between the Washington Nationals and the Cincinnati Reds. After being hit by a pitch, Nationals’ all-star right fielder Bryce Harper took his sweet time making his way to first base.

Reds’ first baseman took issue with the 22-year-old’s actions, causing a conflict which resulted in Harper missing the following the game.

Flashback to 2013 — the Milwaukee Brewers are playing the Atlanta Braves in Wisconsin for a three-game series. Milwaukee OF Carlos Gomez hits a crushing home run to the deepest part of park and proceeded to trot slowly around the diamond while talking to the pitcher.

When Gomez reached home plate, he was blocked by Braves catcher Brian McCann, who confronted Gomez about his antics. The benches cleared shortly after, causing the game to be delayed.

Tim Keown, a senior writer for ESPN, stated the Gomez-McCann incident was good for the game of baseball.

“Gomez and the Braves have turned a game that nobody cared about into something thought-provoking and hilarious,” said Keown in an article for ESPN.com. “A rare feat. So, thanks, guys.”

Interest in baseball has greatly decreased since the end of the Steroid Era, a time when at least one home run was expected in every game.

Since that time; however, baseball has become a game of etiquette. There have been an increasing amount of incidents like the one at Miller Park, all in the name of enforcing the “Unwritten Rules of Baseball.”

These “rules” have become an integral part of baseball, and lately, players are taking more action to enforce these unspoken guidelines.

Pelting batters with pitches or blocking runners from tagging home plate after a long home run trot, such as in the case of “Guardian of the Game” McCann, has become common practice.

Now younger players, such as Harper and Yasiel Puig, have become the targets of “setting the example,” via multiple hit-by-pitch at-bats and “chin music” throughout their careers.

Personally, I believe baseball needs more players like Gomez, Harper and Puig to change the culture and to reverse its recent decline in popularity.

Larger-than-life player personalities are one of the many reasons that other professional sports leagues are so successful and popular amongst the general public.

The NBA has celebrities on and off the court, such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Blake Griffin, who draw in fans not only due to their high level of play but also because they are able to express themselves how they see fit.

NFL players, despite the violent nature of the game of football, don’t go after flashy players to prove a point. There may be the occasional big hit, but nothing outlandish beyond that.

Baseball seems to be the only sport where players’ actions are being restricted by other players, even to the extent of causing possible physical harm to those who do something deemed detrimental to the game.

The idea of preserving rules that aren’t really rules is laughable and should not be tolerated anymore. We need more players with “swag” in order to get people to care again.

Fans understand that taking a few extra seconds to round the bases will not change the fact that a ball was home run. Players should learn the same.