Every sport has its official and “unofficial” rules. Baseball has its own culture of what’s acceptable and what isn’t. Here are 5 of baseball’s biggest unwritten rules. Break them at your own risk! Violating these rules might result in baseballs being “accidentally” thrown right at you.
Don’t flip your bat after a homerun: Hitting a homerun is already hard for the defense, and especially, the pitcher and catcher to watch. Think about it, all play stops and you have to watch the player that just hit a pitch you tried your hardest to throw out of the park. The home run hitter gets to casually stroll around the bases and celebrate. Now add flipping the bat; that’s a personal message that adds injury to insult.
Don’t stare at your homerun as it leaves the park: I used to love watching Ken Griffey Jr. do this after he knew he hit a homerun. Junior had this little strut that he would do after knowingly hitting a dinger and watch it as it left the park. Pitchers HATE that.
Don’t steal or bunt if you’re up by a lot of runs: This is a sportsmanship thing. Stealing or bunting are high risk maneuvers with an attempt to get some runs on the board. If you have the game in hand then there’s really no need to be engaging in these plays unless it’s to continue to run up the score on your opponent and rub their face in it. At least that’s how the losing team sees it.
Don’t mess with the pitcher’s mound: This is the pitcher’s office and sacred ground to them. Like a lot of athletes, superstitions play a big role for players. Just like a hockey goaltender’s net and crease, you don’t mess with a pitcher’s mound.
Don’t swing on 3-0 pitches when you’re up by a lot of runs: This also goes to sportsmanship. I didn’t say that all of these rules make sense, but, this is sometimes a big one. On a 3-0 pitch, the next pitch is usually a guaranteed strike so the pitcher can avoid a walk. Teams may take offense to a hitter taking “advantage” of this situation if they’re already leading by a large margin. Some say play hard until the last out, some say this is trying to run up a score and embarrass your opponent.
So there it is. 5 of baseball’s unwritten rules. There are more of course. Violate these unwritten rules and you risk anything from getting hit by a pitch to a dugout clearing brawl.
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