- Dickson, Paul.
The Unwritten Rules of Baseball.
New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
ISBN 978-0-06-156105-4.
-
Baseball is as much a culture as a game, and a great deal of
the way it is played, managed, umpired, reported, and supported
by fans is not written down in the official rulebook but rather
a body of unwritten rules, customs, traditions, and taboos which,
when violated, can often bring down opprobrium upon the offender
greater than that of a rulebook infraction. Some egregious offences
against the unwritten rules are, as documented here, remembered
many decades later and seen as the key event in a player's
career. In this little book (just 256 pages) the author collects
and codifies in a semi-formal style (complete with three level
item numbers) the unwritten rules for players, managers, umpires,
the official scorer, fans, and media. For example, under “players”,
rule 1.12.1 is “As a pitcher, always walk off the field at the
end of an inning; for all other players, the rule is run on, run off
the field”. I've been watching baseball for half a century
and I'll be darned to heck if I ever noticed that—nor ever
recall seeing it violated. There is an extensive discussion of the
etiquette of deliberately throwing at the batter: the art of the
beanball seems as formalised as a Japanese tea ceremony.
The second half of the book is a collection of aphorisms, rules of
thumb, and customs organised alphabetically. In both this section
and the enumerated rules, discussions of notable occasions where the rule
was violated and the consequences are included. Three appendices
provide other compilations of unwritten rules, including one
for Japanese major leaguers.
Many of these rules will be well known to fans, but others provide
little-known insight into the game. For example, did you know that
hitters on a team will rarely tell a pitcher on their own team
that he has a “tell” which indicates which pitch he's
about to throw? This book explains the logic behind that seemingly
perverse practice. I also loved the observation that the quality
of books about a sport is inversely related to the size of the ball.
Baseball fans, including this one who hasn't seen a game either live
or televised for more than a decade, will find this book both a
delight and enlightening.
June 2009 