January 2, 2013

BP Unfiltered

The Year in Clint Hurdle's Face

by Ben Lindbergh

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According to Body Language University, which sounds like a completely legitimate and accredited academic institution, facial expressions are among the most important elements of human nonverbal communication. That explains how Clint Hurdle has earned a reputation as an especially good communicator: he has the most expressive face of any major-league manager. Most of the time he uses his facial expressions for good, but sometimes he gets angry at umpires. And when Hurdle gets angry at umpires, his face contorts into shapes that some viewers may find disturbing.

Although last year didn't bring us any faces as memorable as the Purple Hurdle scare of 2011 (which turned out to be less scary than it seemed), Hurdle still got into arguments with umpires, and he still made some memorable faces shortly before or after being ejected from games. These are the best of those faces.

Ben Lindbergh is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @benlindbergh
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