Baseball's "unwritten rules"

[Phrazbit]

The unwritten rule book needs to be tossed and burned.

I am really sick of hitters getting beaned for the crime of hitting a big home run and being happy about it. Pitchers (especially relievers) celebrate big strike outs all the time, they stare down dudes they just struck out... and no one bats an eye, but some dude smacks a 430 foot dinger and flips his bat and gesticulates towards his teammates... the next time he is up the "unwritten rules" say he deserves to get hit by a fastball that could possibly seriously injure him. If he gets pissed off about getting drilled by something moving fast enough to break bones and starts yelling at the pitcher there is a good chance HE gets thrown out. Meanwhile, both benches get warned and the head hunting pitcher is immune from retaliation and, unless they want to get ejected, the abused team is unable to retaliate.

It is an idiotic cycle that needs to die.

IMO Baseball has 2 choices.

One, treat massive brawls the way they used to, with very minor suspensions, which would make pitchers think twice about trying to break a dude's ribs when they know the batter will only face a game or 2 suspension if he runs up and breaks the pitchers nose.

Or two, start suspending pitchers for hitting batters in retaliation. No warnings, none of that crap. If a dude hits a homer and next time up he gets drilled by an early count fastball... pitcher is suspended, for the same amount of time as a player would if they sucker punched someone to cause a brawl, because it's basically the same act.

This garbage where the "unwritten rules" are half intact, pitchers can retaliate, batters can't, makes baseball look like a sport for whiny, old, sore losers.

This is the, most recent, game that led to this rant.

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=26547620

What the hell did Anderson do to deserve getting ejected? He blasted a home run, then got hit by a pitch, had the gall to be mad about getting hit, he didn't charge then mound, he just yelled at the pitcher... and he gets ejected.

So stupid.

 

[AZCB34]

Guess I'm old school. He deserved it.

 

[AZ Native]

Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemons...the list goes on.

 

[Phrazbit]

Guess I'm old school. He deserved it.

Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemons...the list goes on.

You’re missing a large part of the point. Back in the "old school" days players were allowed to defend themselves, they could charge the mound, start a brawl and unless things got really ugly they wouldn't get suspended.

Now pitchers get to be this elevated class of cowards. They are allowed to show up hitters and often do, staring them down and going nuts after big strike outs, they also head hunt players who show them up and not only are the players not allowed to enact any form of retribution, but the pitchers almost never bat themselves.

Furthermore, like in the case of this coward the other day, the offending team is made entirely immune from retaliation because the umps warn the benches.

Either let them fight or suspend pitchers like you would if a batter decided to take a swing with his bat at the pitcher's ribs.

 

[AZ Native]

That was my point. The “old” days WERE better. The players policed themselves.

 

[AZCB34]

You’re missing a large part of the point. Back in the "old school" days players were allowed to defend themselves, they could charge the mound, start a brawl and unless things got really ugly they wouldn't get suspended.

Now pitchers get to be this elevated class of cowards. They are allowed to show up hitters and often do, staring them down and going nuts after big strike outs, they also head hunt players who show them up and not only are the players not allowed to enact any form of retribution, but the pitchers almost never bat themselves.

Furthermore, like in the case of this coward the other day, the offending team is made entirely immune from retaliation because the umps warn the benches.

Either let them fight or suspend pitchers like you would if a batter decided to take a swing with his bat at the pitcher's ribs.

Nothing stopped him from charging the mound except the fact he knew he was going to get hit and until some of his guys came out of the dugout then he loses his *****... talk about a coward.

I am all for "Let the kids play" but there has to be some boundary and Anderson acting the easy he did on a lousy 4th inning homer got him what I believe he deserved. He crossed into the other batters box, threw the bat across the catcher and yelled something at his bench.

Hit the HR flip the bat but forget the rest. Pitchers are giving more leeway to celebrating but there is still a line and Anderson clearly crossed the line.

 

[Phrazbit]

Nothing stopped him from charging the mound except the fact he knew he was going to get hit and until some of his guys came out of the dugout then he loses his *****... talk about a coward.

I am all for "Let the kids play" but there has to be some boundary and Anderson acting the easy he did on a lousy 4th inning homer got him what I believe he deserved. He crossed into the other batters box, threw the bat across the catcher and yelled something at his bench.

Hit the HR flip the bat but forget the rest. Pitchers are giving more leeway to celebrating but there is still a line and Anderson clearly crossed the line.

The big ass suspension is plenty reason to not charge the mound.

That is my point, if pitchers can throw at hitters on purpose then hitters should be allowed to fight.

And no, I don't see anything at all wrong with what Anderson did, and if the pitcher had a problem with it then fight him when he crosses home plate. Drilling him with a 93 mph pitch when he knows Anderson will get a long suspension if he charges the mound is a cowardly act.

And, like I said, pitchers show up batters all the time and no one bats an eye.

The league needs to either let them fight or hand out long suspensions for pitchers who do this crap still.

My vote would be let em fight, I'd also get rid of the DH while I am at it.

If I am Anderson, the next time I face this POS I'd spit towards the mount, take strike one and then throw my bat at him. Modern pitchers are cowards for throwing at batters with all these rules in place to protect pitchers from retribution.

 

[AZCB34]

The big ass suspension is plenty reason to not charge the mound.

That is my point, if pitchers can throw at hitters on purpose then hitters should be allowed to fight.

And no, I don't see anything at all wrong with what Anderson did, and if the pitcher had a problem with it then fight him when he crosses home plate. Drilling him with a 93 mph pitch when he knows Anderson will get a long suspension if he charges the mound is a cowardly act.

And, like I said, pitchers show up batters all the time and no one bats an eye.

The league needs to either let them fight or hand out long suspensions for pitchers who do this crap still.

My vote would be let em fight, I'd also get rid of the DH while I am at it.

If I am Anderson, the next time I face this POS I'd spit towards the mount, take strike one and then throw my bat at him. Modern pitchers are cowards for throwing at batters with all these rules in place to protect pitchers from retribution.

What pitchers show up hitters? And how do they show them up?

 

[Phrazbit]

What pitchers show up hitters? And how do they show them up?

Staring guys down after strike outs, strutting around the mount like a peacock... it happens a lot, especially with relievers.

 

[Brian]

Meh, he deserved it.

A lousy 4th inning solo shot and he acted like he just walked off game 7.

Plus, there is history between those 2 teams...specifically with Anderson.

 

[AZCB34]

Staring guys down after strike outs, strutting around the mount like a peacock... it happens a lot, especially with relievers.

Almost only with relievers. I cannot think of a single starter who acts like that but I am sure there are one or two. I have seen Archie show up hitters but I guess because he is a Dbacks that is ok.

Oh and you know the reason why Anderson, the victim, was suspended right?

 

[GatorAZ]

Pitchers get so triggered it’s hilarious.

 

[Brian]

Almost only with relievers. I cannot think of a single starter who acts like that but I am sure there are one or two. I have seen Archie show up hitters but I guess because he is a Dbacks that is ok.

Oh and you know the reason why Anderson, the victim, was suspended right?

Yeah, the only one that comes to mind is Romo, but he's a reliever like you said and he's always been a d!ckhead.

 

[Matt L]

I agree with the OP. If you want to get back at a guy for hitting a homerun off of you, strike him out. Don't try to injure him.

 

[Phrazbit]

Almost only with relievers. I cannot think of a single starter who acts like that but I am sure there are one or two. I have seen Archie show up hitters but I guess because he is a Dbacks that is ok.

Oh and you know the reason why Anderson, the victim, was suspended right?

Yeah, but it still has no bearing on the justification for him getting plunked. I agree with Anderson's sentiment but disagree with his method of expressing it, the pitcher was a coward and a terrible sport.

As far as reliever vs starter, yeah, the peacock strut is more of a reliever thing, but pitchers staring down batters happens a lot, especially in big moments.

But again, my main issue is that the league has cracked down hard core on players charging the mound while doing next to nothing to crack down on head hunting pitchers. It's a stupid double standard. The league needs to either be like the NHL and allow fights or they need to drop the hammer on these pitchers who drill dudes with 90 something MPH pitches as retribution for the offense of a batter doing their job and celebrating.

 

[AZCB34]

Any issue with Koch beaming Bote deliberately?