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Inside Baseball

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Mis-Manners  

Old rules of baseball etiquette are taking a bashing from today's young players

By Stephen Cannella

The topic has come up so often lately that Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile of the Mets joke about sitting down and, like a couple of baseball-savvy Emily Posts, writing a book. "We'll call it The Rules for the New Millennium," Zeile says. "You can't bunt to break up a no-hitter, you can't swing on 3 and 0, things like that."

Yankee Alfonso Soriano swiped this base in a one-run game, but steal with a big lead and sparks fly. Damian Strohmeyer

While Ventura and Zeile are unlikely to put pen to paper anytime soon, there has been enough contention this season over how the sport's unwritten code of etiquette has evolved that perhaps the fine points do need clarifying. On May 26 a furor erupted over an eighth-inning bunt single by Padres catcher Ben Davis that broke up Curt Schilling's perfect game. Two days earlier Mets outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo drew the Marlins' ire when he hacked at a 3-and-0 pitch with New York leading by eight runs in the eighth; righthander Brad Penny plunked him the next day. On April 11 Dodgers centerfielder Marquis Grissom incensed the Diamondbacks by stealing second in the fourth inning of a game Los Angeles led 8-0. A few days before that Mets reliever Turk Wendell drilled Expos slugger Vladimir Guerrero in the back a day after Guerrero had driven a 3-and-0 pitch from Wendell to the centerfield wall with Montreal ahead 10-0. "Even before I was playing, there were no 3-and-0 swings [in a blowout]," Expos manager Felipe Alou said after that game. (Alou, 66, was the oldest manager in the majors until he was axed last Thursday.) "Once it's seven runs, there are no stolen bases and no 3-and-0 swings."

Not anymore. Many traditions seem outdated in an era when home runs and big innings are so common. "The game has changed because of the emphasis on offense, so teams try to score as many runs as possible," says Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia. "Playing at Coors Field, for instance -- how many runs does it take to have a safe lead there?"

Thus, except in the latter stages of the most lopsided blowouts, almost anything goes as long as it's done in an attempt to win. "Until the pitcher tells me what's coming and stops trying to get me out, I'll try everything I can to get a base hit," says Zeile.

"What code?" Brewers hitting coach Rod Carew replies when asked if Davis's bunt, which Arizona manager Bob Brenly labeled "chickens---," was a violation of protocol. "The code is to try to win. The score was 2-0. If he gets on and the next guy hits a home run, you have a tie game."

With players reaching the big leagues at a younger age than their predecessors, a generation gap may be developing when it comes to etiquette. Though most players, managers and scouts say it was a good play, Brenly says that Davis's bunt didn't jibe with Brenly's "old-school" philosophy. San Francisco skipper Dusty Baker doesn't object to the play, but does say that he would have been "too proud" to try a similar trick when he was a player. Alou benched Guerrero for the game after the 3-and-0 hack against the Mets and told him not to swing in that situation again. "The young guys have changed," says 39-year-old Andres Galarraga of the Rangers. "They seem to feel more relaxed up here, not as respectful as new players used to be."

Also, with rosters more diverse than ever, the gap may be cultural as well. For example, Shinjo says that he was unaware of the inappropriateness of the 3-and-0 swing and that in his native Japan hitters are expected to attack pitches in that situation.

The one rule that crosses all lines is that players should do whatever they can to win without embarrassing opponents or overvaluing individual achievement. "What if Ryan Klesko had hit three home runs in a row and came to bat in the bottom of the eighth?" Cardinals manager Tony La Russa says, in response to Brenly's bunt complaints. "If [the Diamondbacks] had a two- or three-run lead and an open base, would they have to pitch to him because he's got a chance to tie a record? No."

Issue date: June 11, 2001

For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, June 6. Click here to subscribe to SI.

 

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