Baseball's Unwritten Rules

During the Yankees game last night the Blue Jays turned a double play that got Michael Kay all huffy. Most bad things that happen to the Yankees have a way of doing that but his hurt feelings were actually justified this time. Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill was nowhere near second base when he made the throw onto first but because of the “neighborhood play” rule the umpire called the runner out anyway. The “neighborhood play” is one of baseball’s unwritten rules, you see. Nowhere in the official rules of the game does it say that a second baseman only needs to be near second base to force a runner out, rather it says that the fielder must actually touch the base with the ball in his glove.

Like most of baseball’s unwritten rules, it’s pretty ridiculous. If it’s a play at the plate the catcher can’t just swipe the ball in the general direction of the runner and get credit for an out. He must touch him with the ball or you’ll see the ump flash a safe sign. If a hitter swings and gets close to a pitch without touching it he doesn’t get credit for a foul tip so why should someone turning two get so much more leeway than anyone else on the field? Because it’s one of baseball’s unwritten rules and, therefore, it’s pretty stupid.

Don’t bunt to break up a no-hitter – I’ll admit it’s a bit of a wuss move to drop a bunt against a pitcher in the eighth inning of a no-no especially if the margin is more than a run or two. Take your hacks and spend a little less time worrying about what the other pitcher’s doing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a heady baseball play. The third baseman’s playing back, you’re a speedy player and your team needs baserunners, if one run matters why is it any worse to do this in the seventh inning than it is to lead off the game? Hell, every pitcher has a no-hitter going at some point every game it’s his job to keep it going not yours.

Players and coaches shouldn’t steal signs – You’re a pitcher and there’s a runner on second. The catcher keeps flashing the sign for your best pitch but the hitter seems to know what’s coming and keeps fouling them off to get another chance. It’s like he knows what’s coming. He probably does because that runner you put on second has seen the catcher flashing the same signs and is tipping the hitter off. You have two choices, get pissed about it or change your signs. The guy who isn’t looking in to try and grab an edge for his teammate is an idiot. The same goes for a third base coach or someone in the dugout who picks up on what the other team is doing. In football, teams watch hours of tapes and pick up tendencies and maybe even what an audible means. That’s considered smart, it’s the same thing in baseball. You shouldn’t hire someone to sit in centerfield and rip off signs but anyone in uniform is fair.

Don’t show up the pitcher when you hit a home run – This one actually has merit. Act like you’ve been there before and all that. Put your head down, drop your bat and move around the bases at a steady pace. Unfortunately it’s usually the guys who hit the most home runs who have a problem acting like they’ve done it before. If there are guys on base when Manny Ramirez homers they’ve usually scored before he’s taken three steps toward first base and you don’t want to be anywhere near Sammy Sosa when he lets his bat fly after juicing one from the playing field. But nothing ever happens to those guys, it’s only the occasional outburst from a singles hitter, rookie or pitcher that rankles the other team. A baseball rule can’t be unwritten if it doesn’t apply to everyone. Then it becomes a written rule, like the minimum time between pitches, the amount of body armor you can wear to the plate and the amount of pine tar on a pitcher’s fingers.

Never admit that you threw at a hitter – This ties into the previous rule. Let’s say one of those no-good rookies admires his handiwork a little longer than what’s deemed appropriate and the next time he comes up to the plate he gets drilled in the ribs. When the game ends and the pitcher’s asked about it he will never, ever admit that there was intent behind the pitch. Nor will they or their manager ever admit that a hitter got plunked as retaliation for an earlier hit batsman. Then the pitchers and managers become broadcasters and whenever someone gets hit in retaliation they’ll say just that and explain why it was a breaking pitch instead of a fastball and why a hurler with pinpoint control suddenly turns into Nuke LaLoosh.

Don't mention a no-hitter or perfect game while it's in progress - I'm wholeheartedly in favor of this rule. It never seems to fail. On Kentucky Derby day while Chien-Ming Wang was trying to throw a perfecto a friend called me to tell me. It was about ninety seconds later that Wang gave up a homer. I only mention it because I brought up that Michael Kay was right about something earlier in this post and I wanted to balance that out by reminding everyone that on his radio show Kay once responded to a caller that chided him for jinxing an earlier Wang no-hit bid by mentioning it by talking about Nazis putting people into ovens. 

Comments

[dsmith]

Great article, especially your comments on the "neighborhood rule." I love double plays and I guess in a sense this would be the league helping teams to turn the double play. But I want to see a real double play -- not one helped along by a stupid rule. It almost cheapens all double plays.

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[Restless Heart 1959]

The neighborhood rule is to protect the second baseman from being injured while the runner is sliding into second- almost always trying to slide into and upend the second baseman, and prevent a double play.

It's a good unwritten "rule".

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