Did you know that Major League Baseball has a parental leave policy for players? Even hardcore baseball fans could be forgiven for not knowing about the policy because apparently, as of today, only one player has ever taken advantage of it. He must, of course, be mocked for taking time off from work to witness the birth of his child, and he has been, by a certain Texan radio personality.

Andrea Grimes, at Hay Ladies, has a few things to say about what it means when we mock men – not just baseball players – for putting family before career:

It’s really very simple: by choosing his family over his job, Colby Lewis is not performing masculinity properly, and that scares the shit out of people who have invested their entire careers, even their whole identities, in reinforcing said masculinity. What do I mean when I say a super studly professional athlete is not performing masculinity properly? I mean this: Colby Lewis’ act of choosing to be at the birth of his kid rather than starting as pitcher in a major league baseball game is a direct and public challenge to the patriarchal norm which dictates that women will be the ones to make career sacrifices, full stop.

Read the rest here. You won’t regret it.