It’s Time to Get Rid of Baseball’s Unwritten Rules
Baseball at the Major League level has had unwritten rules forever. Now it’s time to flush these rules down the toilet. They are rules that go back to the beginning of the game that Abner Doubleday invented.
The other night in a game, superstar-in-the-making Fernado Tatis Jr.of the San Diego Padres waited on a three balls and no strikes pitch and hit a grand slam home run. The Padres had a large lead over the Texas Rangers at that time. The Rangers felt he shouldn’t have swung at a pitch with the lead and with that count then hit a grand slam. That’s just foolish.
Baseball is about scoring runs and beating your opponent. That’s what Tatis Jr. did. There are many unwritten rules, like don’t hit the opposite way with a defensive shift on or don’t show up the pitcher on a home run trot.
Also, take the controversy with the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox stealing the catcher’s signs to the pitcher by using electronic means and then texting to the dugout what the pitcher is going to the throw. That way the batter knows what pitch is coming. It’s an unfair advantage because they electronic means. Then the players in the dugout would make banging noises by taking bats and hitting trash cans. This was not only stealing signs but blatant cheating.
Now, because they used electronic means, this isn’t an unwritten rule but straight up cheating. However, if you steal signs by ways of figuring out what the pitcher and catcher are going to throw, this to me is legal. There is a fine line between breaking unwritten rules and what is deemed just playing aggressive baseball.
One last unwritten rule is making a minor league player stay in the minors for a few years to get seasoned. This is so overrated. If a player is ready, bring him up. See if he’s ready to make the jump to the Major League level. If he goes into a slump, then send him back down and let him work out of the slump. Slumps are part of baseball at all levels.
I say it's time to get rid of baseball’s unwritten rules. What do you think? Please let us know!