MLB unwritten rules: About time to kill all that nonsense

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The flap about Fernando Tatis Jr’s recent grand slam breaking one of the MLB unwritten rules just highlights the silliness of the notion at that level.

Some of you may have heard about the brouhaha that followed after Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch the other day when his team was ahead by seven runs. Supposedly, the remarkably talented young player violated one of those MLB unwritten rules. Worse, San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler reprimanded his own player, who reportedly seemed a little confused.

Apparently, Tatis had misplaced his written list of MLB unwritten rules.

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And to be plain for any very young fans out there, Tatis’ violation was not hitting the grand slam, but swinging at the 3-0 pitch, and this caught my attention because the prohibition against swinging at 3-0 pitches, an unwritten rule at various levels of baseball and softball in various circumstances, has always annoyed me.

Thus, you have this piece.

A full twenty years after a game of six-to-twelve-foot, slow-pitch softball, I still clearly recall being questioned by a teammate about swinging at a 3-0 pitch. My reply was a bit dismissive – the result of that swing was a line drive to center that undoubtedly hit very uneven ground, then hopped over the head of the center fielder, resulting in a two-run “homer.”

Baseball players are taught to hit good pitches. Period. This should overrule anything else – an unwritten rule and the score at the time of the pitch among them.

But let’s return to Tatis’ situation.

Hey @tatis_jr listen up:

1) Keep swinging 3-0 if you want to, no matter what the game situation is
2) Keep hitting homers, no matter what the situation is
3) Keep bringing energy and flash to baseball and making it fun
4) The only thing you did wrong was apologize. Stop that.
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) August 18, 2020

As reported by the New York Times’ Victor Mather, a number of MLB players came to Tatis’ defense, among them baseball’s most opinionated individual in uniform, Trevor Bauer, and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. Bauer’s remarks (above) were predictably over-long but well-reasoned. Bench said, “Everybody should hit 3-0. Grand slams are a huge stat.”

Don’t you love it when Johnny Bench agrees with you?

Here’s the thing about the alleged unwritten rules for MLB: They’re nonsense. Who cares if Tatis’ third base coach gave him the take sign? That he missed it isn’t good, but that’s another story. The Padres were up big already in the eighth inning when his grand slam was struck. Why didn’t the Padres take their foot off the accelerator earlier?

Because you never know what might happen in sports.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into this matter. Why should all the MLB unwritten rules be shelved?

🚨 @tatis_jr grand slam 🚨 pic.twitter.com/agtKnvQ7kH
— MLB (@MLB) August 18, 2020

The first of the ridiculous MLB unwritten rules: don’t run up the score.

The frequently listed first unwritten rule at many levels of baseball and softball is: Don’t show up the opponent. This is the first tenet of good sportsmanship. And surely, the first corollary to this rule is: Don’t run up the score.

So, what should the Padres have done Aug. 16, up 10-3 on the Rangers in the eighth inning? If Tingley was so concerned after the fact about swinging at a 3-0 pitch, and not showing up the other team with a hitter clearly able to launch a 112-mph grand slam, two questions are begging:

Why not hit for him? Oh, well, maybe he wasn’t quite ready to do that.
Would he have let him swing 3-1 or 3-2? You know the answer is yes for 3-2.

Not showing up an opponent is obviously important at lower levels of baseball, and even for adults playing recreational, or prize-package softball. This is why there are mercy rules related to scoring.

And other rules related to this come into play for Little Leaguers. The 150-pound 12-year-old should pull his punch a bit on the fastballs to 9-year-olds. He or she shouldn’t be throwing at or near the youngest players. The biggest kid on the field shouldn’t run over the 4-foot-8, pudgy kid catching on a play at home, and so forth.

None of this sort of thinking applies to MLB players. MLB players are professionals. Their “game” is a business. Individual stats do matter, and by the way, in 2020 there are no more guys built like Smoky Burgess for Giancarlo Stanton to run over.

(And for what it’s worth, Burgess would have shaken that off.)

Breaking an MLB unwritten rule is applying pressure, even if it’s done unintentionally as Tatis apparently did. This is what professionals do.

Again, if Tingley thought a bases-loaded situation while ahead 10-3 in the eighth inning might be too tempting for his best young hitter, and he were really, really concerned about appearing a good sport, why wouldn’t he substitute the striving young player at the end of the bench for Tatis? Give him an RBI opportunity.

And now, a few more MLB unwritten rules. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Obviously, there are other unwritten rules, some of them covered by Mather. Let’s consider a couple of them.

Honestly, they’re all fairly silly, considering that baseball, after all, is entertainment, but here’s one: “Don’t flip your bat or otherwise preen after a home run”?