Yet the Newspapers.com database doesn’t yield any mention of ass-slapping in baseball in the 1970s, which is curious given that the act is most closely associated with the national pastime. “I definitely think of it more in terms of baseball,” Stephens says. “When a guy hits a home run, and gets a slap from the third base coach as he rounds third, that sticks out in my mind when I think of butt slapping in sports.”
A Cultural History of Butt Slapping in Sports
There are other references to butt-slapping in sports in the 1970s as well — in and in particular. In terms of the NFL, during his storied run as the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback (1974 to 1986).
As for butt slapping, the earliest reference in sports I can find is from about Penn State football’s stoic defensive set. The article identifies the Penn State defenders as outliers for not emphatically slapping each other on the ass.
The episode begins with Gumball and trying to find a new greeting gesture and a name for it in order to look cooler. However, his suggestions prove only to be silly. Then Darwin brings up that Tobias also has a unique way of greeting; starting by giving people a high-five and then slapping them on their butts. Just then, Tobias comes and slaps , , , , and Darwin but Gumball is shocked and disappointed that he is excluded from the butt-slap and is merely given a high-five. Although Darwin is surprised, he claims Gumball is lucky. But Gumball is unable to let it go and attempts to get Tobias to slap him.
In 2016, during their World Series championship run, the Chicago Cubs simultaneously subverted and elevated the homosocial butt-slapping ritual . Or better put, rather than pat each other’s butts after home runs, (like real men).
