![]() There are so many opportunities for gamesmanship. Wilson says, "There are so many unwritten rules because it's such an old game. There's not a platform for retaliation when you're frustrated or upset."Īngels pitcher C.J. You can go hard into second base and might run over a catcher, but you can't run over the pitcher. In baseball, there is so much separating opposing teams. In football, you're allowed to tackle a guy. "In hockey, you throw down your gloves and fight. "THERE ARE SO MANY UNWRITTEN rules in baseball because you can't fight, and you can't tackle people," says Cubs catcher John Baker. The unwritten rules were built to penalize a player who stole a base when his team was ahead by 10 runs, or swung as hard as he could at a 3-0 pitch when up by 12, or dropped a bunt in the ninth inning to break up a no-hitter. If you disrespect them, their team or the game, you will pay, often with something in the ribs at 90 mph.īaseball's unwritten rules quietly took form in part to reprimand a player for running too slowly around the bases, celebrating as he goes, after a home run in the eighth inning of a 10-1 game, and, in a development of the past 10 years, flipping his bat as he stands at the plate to admire his feat. And they still abide by one principle: This is a hard game played by hard men, vengeful men without remorse who have really long memories. But he probably does over-state the situation. ![]() Louis over one more.ĭunn isn't wrong, exactly it isn't as easy to retaliate as it once was. Petersburg over another, a word war between the A's and the Astros over a third, and a tit-for-tat, by-the-(unwritten)-book reprisal in St. The 2014 season is less than two months old, but it's already given us - among other things - a brawl in Pittsburgh over one unwritten rule, three ejections in St. Make no mistake, though: Lines that aren't spelled out in any edition of the Official Baseball Rules still get crossed, and the players who cross them still face vigilante ramifications for their transgressions. He carries a Mariachi band around the bases with him every time he hits one. They are gone." "David Ortiz does the same bat flip after every home run. When you do something like that - celebrate at home plate, or make a slow trip around the bases - someone has to pay for that, preferably you. "A guy in front of me, who shouldn't be celebrating when he hits a home run, does, and I'm thinking, 'OK, they're coming after me now.' And it never comes. "There is no fear of getting drilled anymore," the White Sox's Adam Dunn says. And with the ejection often comes a suspension, sometimes for as many as 10 games.Ĭonfusing? Contradictory? At least one veteran player insists baseball's unwritten rules are a thing of the past, with no present whatsoever. ![]() Now, umpires issue warnings after a questionable hit batsman, and often, the next pitcher to hit a batter gets ejected. Now, Major League Baseball polices the game, not the players. Yes, the game has changed a little since those days, and some of the responsibility for the enforcement of the unwritten rules has been taken away from the people who play it. This is how the Brooklyn Dodgers and Milwaukee Braves dealt with the rules back in the day. "So I don't forget any of them," Williams said. "Why do you keep them in your cap?" Williams was asked. "Those are the guys I have to get," Williams said. "What are the names on the list?" Williams was asked. There are so many of them, and they've existed for over 100 years, that it's hard to keep track of them, to process them.īack in the 1960s, hard-throwing Stan Williams tracked them this way: He carried a list of names around in his cap. ![]() Welcome to the contentious, confusing, contradictory world of baseball's unwritten rules. "That was for four years ago!" Farmer screamed back.
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