Earlier this week, Fernando beat Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres a grand slam, a seemingly exciting moment for player, fans and teammates.
But because he had done so as his team led through seven runs, the explosion earned him a post-rebellion from his manager.
Tatis, you see, had broken one of the unwritten rules of baseball. Those rules can be mystifying and arbitrary for the casual fan, and sometimes even for the hard core. “Violations” of these “rules” cause controversy in the game more often than you might think.
Tatis’ foul was swinging on a 3-0 field when his team had a 10-3 lead in the eighth inning. “He’s young, a free spirit,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler told reporters after the game Monday night. ‘It’s a learning opportunity, and that’s it. He will grow out of it. ”
Could there really be a bad time to hit a grand slam?
“In this game, we had a particularly comfortable lead in particular,” Tingler said of what eventually became a 14-4 win over the Texas Rangers. “We are not trying to increase the score or anything like that.”
All of this came as a surprise to Tatis.
“I know a lot of unwritten rules,” he said. ‘I was missing something here.
“I think I’ll take a pitch next time.”
If you find it confusing that a player has to let a good pitch go by instead of, say, hitting a grand slam, you are not alone. Even rival players came to Tatis’ defense.
“Keep weighing 3-0 if you want to, no matter what the game situation is,” Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer wrote on Twitter. ‘The only thing you did wrong was apologize. Stop that. ”
“If you don’t like giving up on 3-0 grand slams, choose better,” said Colin Poche, a Tampa Bay Rays pitcher.
Even a Hall of Famer waited in line.
“Everyone should go 3-0. “Grand slams are a huge state,” he said. Johnny Bench sei.
It is difficult to make a list of the unwritten rules of baseball, because, well, they are not written. But in many cases they revolve around not showing the opposition and not increasing the score, playing the game “the right way”, although this standard is not only defined. (There are also superstitions, such as not talking about no-hitters.)
For the uninitiated, here are a few other offenses that you should be aware of.
Do not steal bases when your team is far ahead.
Rickey Henderson stole a base, something he did more than one in baseball. But because his Padres led the Brewers, 11-5, in that game in 2001, the opponent, Davey Lopes, exceptionally, took to the field and threatened the display of a pitcher at Henderson the next time he was on. (He did not get the chance. Henderson was carefully removed from the game.)
Henderson may have had a good excuse for breaking the rule, though: It was later reported that he was asleep in the clubhouse and did not know the score when he was exposed as a pinch runner.
Not bundled to break up a no-hitter.
Curt Schilling of the Diamondbacks was five outs from a perfect game. Padres’s Ben Davis broke through on the wing. The tactic drew the ire of the Arizona bank. But the Padres were just as crazy.
“We’re all tied for first place and we’re trying to win the game and they’re crying out for him because he’s throwing a bundle down,” Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn told the San Diego Union Tribune the 2001 game. “Now and? Can it matter? We’re trying to win the game. They all hope like we don’t have to try to win a game.”
Do not flip your bat or preen after a home game.
There’s nothing like a flamboyant batflip to smoke an opposing team. There have been many over the years, but the top prize could still go to Jose Bautista for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2015 division.
After being connected, Bautista froze at the plate and saw the ball, then sent his bat deep into full area with a muscular hurl.
“He does things that kids do in Wiffle ball games,” Rangers reliever Sam Dyson said.
Do not see that your homers have land, and run the bases fast.
A first resident home by Max Muncy of the Dodgers in San Francisco last year left the park and came to McCovey Cove. What annoyed Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner, however, were the few moments Muncy went through to see how it left the park.
The two alternated even when Muncy finally ran the bases. Muncy then recounted, ‘He said,’ Don’t look at the ball, you’re running. ‘I just responded back,’ If you do not want me to see the ball, you can get it out of the ocean. ”
However, the only thing a humbled pitcher likes more than a slow start from the pitcher’s box is a slow home run.
The Phillies’ Rhys Hopkins took 34 seconds to get the sacks in a game against the Mets in 2019, the slowest time in five years, according to Statcast. Maybe he was motivated the night before by two brushback pitches by the same pitcher, Jacob Rhame.
Rhame took the high road. “He has me,” he said. “If I make a better pitch, he doesn’t get the basics.”
Do not step on the mound.
Heads protect the mound.
During a game in 2010, Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees was back to the first of the third after a foul ball when he took the direct round – over the pitching mound. His greater violation of unwritten rules, however, caused his feet to touch the rubber. It was enough for pitcher Dallas Braden of the A’s to yell at him on the field, and then go on a seven-minute postgame tirade.
“If my grandmother had walked over the mound, she would have heard the same thing he heard – period,” Braden said. ‘That’s the way I treat the game and the way I treat myself on my work day. That’s just the way it is. I would never have such respect for anyone. “
Braden’s complaints were “pretty funny, honest,” Rodriguez said, adding that he had no idea what he was doing wrong.
Do not reject tradition.
While the unwritten rules may seem silly at times, former great liar Doug Glanville sees some value in them.
“Our lives are wrapped up in unwritten rules that include safety, courtesy, respect, etiquette, money, etc.,” he once wrote in The New York Times. “These are ways of acculturating a new generation in tradition, and doing so that empowers that generation to take ownership, invest and develop.”
He added: “As a former big leaguer, I roll my eyes at isolated cases and think that baseball players’ ideas about unwritten rules are stupid and uptight, or even culturally insensitive to the changing diversity of baseball. But I also look behind the bravado.
“Veterans and rookies, retired players and coaches are joining team loyalties on how they want the culture of the game to advance. Incomplete, but noticeably better than rejecting any lessons from the past – or, worse, ignoring them altogether. ”
And how did Tatis assimilate the lessons of the past? Despite his control after the match in which he hit a late grand slam, he returned the next night and stole third. His team stood at the time with six runs.
Benjamin Hoffman contributed reporting.
