Top 10 Unwritten Rules of Baseball

(Photo Credit-cbssports.com)

Everything in life has a specific set of rules. Most are stated clearly and in red ink to the person playing or reading, but there always seems to be the magical ‘Unwritten Rules.’ Baseball is no stranger to Unwritten Rules. Below are the Top 10.

1) Do not talk about the no-hitter. Just do everyone, including the starting pitcher a favor and keep your mouth shut. I’m sure the superstitious fans out there know all about this.

2) Do not bunt to break up the no-hitter. Seems pretty obvious to you watching at home to just stick out the barrel of the bat to put the ball in play, but don’t. You just don’t do that. This brings up our next point about bunting.

3) Do not bunt when the shift is on. For all of the armchair managers out there, yes, it seems intelligent for your power hitting left handed clean up hitter to just poke the bat out and put the ball down the third base line right? Wrong.

4) If a pitcher hits your teammate, hit theirs. This is a rule that makes the MLB lots of money. With this Unwritten Rule, teams and players get fines/suspensions handed out, and people injured in bench clearing brawls, i.e. the immature hothead Johnny Cueto kicking former Cardinal Jason La Rue in the face with his spikes. La Rue retired after being placed on DL due to his injury.

5) Do not admire a homerun. This is also something that can create brawls amongst teams. A few weeks ago, Junior Lake of the ‘always at home watching baseball in October’ Chicago Cubs hit a homerun, flipped his bat, and then taunted the home dugout of the Miami Marlins as he jogged by.

6) Do not step in front of the umpires and/or catches when walking to the batters box. It’s common courtesy. Don’t be ‘that’ guy that walks in front of the catcher and umpire on the way to your probable borderline strikeout pitch now that you’ve upset the umpire. Walk around. You’ll get more TV time anyways.

7) Do not rub the spot after getting hit by a pitch. Just think for a second. Aside from a few rare instances where batters leave the box after getting beaned, do you ever see players on first base standing there rubbing their back, thigh, or arm? Not usually, no.

8) Do not step in the batters box when the pitcher is warming up. Again, common courtesy. A pitcher is attempting to get ready to hopefully only throw three pitches that inning, but normally it turns out to be around 15-20. Moreover, the ‘on-deck’ circle should be the place to be. If not, why does the game of baseball have it if it won’t be used?

9) Pitcher’s go easy on pitchers. Every pitcher stepping into the plate has two thoughts on their mind. One is, “Just don’t hit me.” The other is, “Just make contact.” Most pitchers don’t care for hitting. Despite their competitive nature, they play the game to get guys out, not jack three run bombs into the opposing bullpen.

10) Pitchers never show up their fielders. This typically doesn’t happen often, but when it does, players notice. The umpires notice. The fans notice. A pitcher who constantly made body language on the mound was Gaylord Perry, who would put his hands on his hips and stare down fielders who made errors behind him.

Have thoughts of your own? Agree or Disagree with my thoughts? What are your Top 10 Unwritten Rules? Comment below or tweet @ImtheMANdziara.