Crying In Baseball: Invoking The Unwritten Rules

Most fans are familiar with baseball’s “unwritten rules,” an amorphous collection of mostly arbitrary guidelines that serves as the sport’s code of etiquette. The topics of this fictitious instruction manual include everything from how to react after hitting a home run to when it’s okay to intentionally throw a baseball at the other team’s best player. This year, seemingly more than in years past, the unwritten rules have been frequently debated, but it’s time to dump this antiquated view of baseball decorum.

In late May, the Boston Red Sox were in Tampa for a series that, at the time, was not a meeting of AL East also-rans. In the bottom of the seventh inning, with Tampa leading 8-3, Yunel Escobar stole third base without a throw from Boston catcher A.J. Pierzynski. The Boston reserves started yelling at Escobar, and when he yelled back the benches cleared. After the game, Red Sox backup catcher/sergeant-at-arms David Ross told the media that the “whole team took exception to the stolen base, two outs in the [seventh].” Incidentally, Boston stole a base when leading by five runs in the 2013 playoffs against Tampa.

Andrew McCutcheon is currently on the DL with a rib injury,

an indirect result of getting hit by a 95mph Randall Delgado

fastball. The move was a retaliation by Arizona after Paul 

Goldschmidt was inadvertently struck in the hand.

(Photo Credit: www.arizonasports.com)

Earlier this month, Pittsburgh and Arizona played a series in which the machismo and false bravado of the unwritten rules was on full display. In the second game of the series, the Pirates led Arizona 9-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Diamondbacks star Paul Goldschmidt had come off the bench and was standing in the box against Pirates reliever Ernesto Frieri. Frieri threw a fastball that came too far inside, hitting Goldschmidt and breaking his hand. This was a very unfortunate play, but injuries happen in baseball and there was nothing to suggest that hit-by-pitch was intentional. But all that didn’t matter to D-backs manager Kirk Gibson, who retaliated by throwing at Pirates star Andrew McCutchen the following night. After the game, Gibson ironically muttered, “Guys get hit. It’s part of the game.”

Perhaps the most egregious example of the moral outrage that goes with the unwritten rules came from a July game between Texas and Toronto. The Blue Jays were ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth, when Colby Rasmus came to the plate to face Colby Lewis. The Rangers employed a defensive shift against Rasmus, leaving the left side of the infield largely unguarded. Rasmus bunted for an easy single, which the other Colby thought was a cheesy move. The two exchanged words on the diamond, and after the game Lewis accused Rasmus of laying down the bunt simply to improve his batting average. Evidently he is under the impression that his teammates are allowed to crowd the right side of the field and the batter must attempt to hit it through the extra defenders.

The hypocrisy and faulty logic are evident in each of these examples, but that’s not the most glaring problem. The problem is that when players and coaches cite the unwritten rules, they’re admitting defeat whether they realize it or not. In the first example, the Sox were down by five late in the game. While a loss is certainly likely, it’s in no way certain. David Ross was essentially saying, “There’s no way we can score five runs in the last two innings. Tampa should just run out the clock so we can go home.”

Gibson apparently had no faith in his team either. He complained to the media that Pittsburgh was still throwing inside when Goldschmidt was hurt. Did he expect the Pirates to just put the ball on a tee for his team? Why not just forfeit the game at that point? At least then there wouldn’t be any chance for injury.

"There's no crying in baseball!"

Jimmy Dugan would have a field day with the players in 

today's game. 

And, of course, Colby Lewis’s rant that Rasmus shouldn’t be allowed to do whatever he can in order to get on base in the fifth inning of a two-run game is just preposterous. At that point, the game is still very much undecided.


This isn’t the powerhouse high school football team leading the junior varsity 49-0 in the second quarter. This is Major League Baseball and these are professional athletes. If players and coaches aren’t willing to put up with differing styles and personalities and opponents giving 100% no matter what the score, maybe they should choose a different profession. Stop crying and start playing hard.

--Nathan Mullenax, @otwNathan