I feel like baseball and golf are pretty much the last major sports where there is any expectation of decorum and sportsmanship and with more players like Machado, baseball will go the way of the "me, me, me" sports like NFL and NBA.
I would add professionall tennis (men and women) to the list for sportsmanship and decorum. Nadal Djokavic, Federer, Williams, Azarenka, Sharapova are at the top of their sport (an individual sport none the less) and they do it the right way by putting their sport ahead of themselves.
Harper's act while in the minors was pathetic. Stepping... No... Stomping with max force on a kid's leg playing first base, assumably out of frustration for having rolled over one... I can still picture it clearly. No idea if that firstbaseman went on to play higher level ball or not, but regardless... He was a kid who had earned the right to be on that field that day just like Harper... Just another guy working for a shot. Harper showed his true colors that day in my book. Then there was blowing kisses at pitchers when he'd go deep. Less offensive, since nobody got injured for a change... But still a clear demonstration of the guy's (lack of) character. For me, it's just like Machado this past weekend... A guy with great talent who doesn't have the class to match. JMO.
Bryce was a tool in the minors with repeated issues....agreed. He was a kid when he came up, and I think having professionals around him everyday has helped him a lot over the last few years. We've seen Harper grow over the years (I live in his market), and I appreciate his effort to treat people better. However, this is Machado's first offense that I'm aware of. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that it was a one time thing....I'm going to hold off on calling Machado classless for now. JMO.