Baseball and Secret Rules

Jump to Comments

I like baseball because it has depth. It’s kind of like quiet people. There are two types of quiet people. There are the quiet people that are quiet because they have nothing to say—sad but true. They could be compared to something like NASCAR: no flash, no substance. And then there are quiet people that, after some digging, reveal a great deal of substance. The latter is like baseball.

An example of that depth is in its secret rules—a code of conduct that you wouldn’t find in any official rulebook. For instance, if your team is blowing out another team, you don’t lay down a bunt or steal bases. Small ball is meant for manufacturing runs in a close game. In a blowout, it’s like rubbing salt in your opponent’s wounds. Of course, it’s not against the official rules, and you can technically do it. But don’t be surprised if your star hitter is plucked in the back the next time he comes up to hit.

Or sometimes, a batter will foul a ball and it will hit his leg or foot. If you’ve ever been hit by a pitch, you know it’s no love tap. But the thing in baseball is that you can’t show pain if you’re ever hit by a ball. So the opposing catcher, out of courtesy to the smarting batter, will walk to the mound and shoot the breeze with the pitcher so that the batter can steal a moment to recover. Baseball players are gentlemen.

Then there’s the long-ball etiquette. If you hit a home run, you typically don’t admire your swing, the ball’s trajectory and take your sweet ol’ time to trot the bases (unless you’re Barry Bonds or some other unnatural and artificial behemoth). So as not to unnecessarily show up the opposing team, you can watch your ball climb over the fence, but then you put your head down and jog at a good pace around the bases and let the game go on.

I realize that I like these secret rules, because over the years, I have accumulated a lot of secret rules for myself. These, of course are only for me, and I don’t impose them on others. For example:

1. No black dress-shirts or pink shirts.

2. Don’t give my opinion or advice unless asked for.

3. I don’t eat melons.

I would post more, but then they wouldn’t be so secret anymore. Do you guys have any secret rules?

17 Comments

Filed under Culture, Ramblings

Tags: Baseball