Baseballs Unwritten Rules That You Might Not Know

Some say baseball is boring, well only boring people think baseball is boring. Out of all of the four major sports in America, baseball is the most easily and understood game out there. In baseball you get either three-strikes or four-balls per plate appearance. As a pitcher its the same thing as the hitter, but reversed in the way of trying to get on base switched with trying to get the batter out. Baseball does not have any flags for getting a penalty or there is no penalty-box or free throws, but if you do break a unwritten rule then you or your team will receive 90 plus MPH fastball into the ribs of one of your hitters.

Baseball dates back to before America was established as a

country, and even the baseball glove has only been around since 1870, so you can say baseball is very slow to evolve. Yet if you dig deeper into baseball history you will find trace evidence of this unwritten rule book of baseball. This rule book has many rules, that even most MLB players do not know. Take Alex Rodriquez for example, last year he accidentally ran over the pitchers mound on his way back to 1st base. Dallas Braden Oakland Athletics's starter was furious at Rodriquez for entering his (Braden) domain. This incident is just one of many of baseballs unwritten rules. I will list a few off for you.

Do not swing at the first pitch after back-back homers. This rule is to help the pitchers, because even if you are playing against each other you do not want to publicly embarrass your opponent. Take for example in 2007 when Boston hit back to-back to-back to-back home runs against the Yankees, Boston 3 and 4 hitters(Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek) both took the first pitch before sending the ball over the fence.

This next rule is more of showing how macho you really are. After being hit-by-pitch do not rub whereyou got hit. It sends a message back the pitcher, and that message says "what is that your best shot?". The infamous Pete Rose always sprinted to 1st base after being hit, Rose said he did that to try to take all the satisfactions away from the pitcher. There is a rumor out there that Don Baylor was hit by 267 pitches, yet he never rubbed them a single one.

The next one is do not stand next to home plate when the pitcher is warming-up. This is a respect

thing, just like Adrian Beltre does not like anyone to touch his head, pitchers do not like hitters to stand next to the plate when they are warming-up. Ken Griffey JR had some thoughts about this unwritten rule. "I stay as far away from the cutout as I can when the pitcher is warming up," said Ken Griffey Jr. "If they could, they should put the on-deck circle in left field to make me happy. I don't want anything to do with messing with the pitcher when he's getting ready."

Do not walk in front of the catcher or the umpire when getting into the box. This is respect, pure and simple. If the line from your dugout to the batter's box takes you between the pitcher and the catcher, walk around. Like the A-Rod incident, you'll likely never hear about this one until a player is called out for brazenly violating it.

Pitchers never show up your fielders. This doesn't happen frequently, but when it does, players notice. One pitcher who made a habit of excessive body language on the mound was Gaylord Perry, who would put his hands on his hips and stare down fielders who made errors behind him. "That bothered me because nobody glared at him if he gave up a home run or something like that," said Dave Nelson, Perry's teammate on the Rangers. "I always felt like I deserved the same respect because I'm out there busting my butt just like he is, and if I make an error, it wasn't because I was doing it on purpose."

Pitchers stay in the dugout at least until the end of the inning in which they get pulled. This is purely about respect for one's teammates. "I know you're having a tough day, but give your teammates the respect to stay out here until the end of the inning," said Sean Casey. "You don't want to show that you think the game's already lost.

Never try to bunt for a hit when a no-no or perfect game is going on, this is just disrespectful, and plain bush-league. Never mention a no-hitter while it's in progress, this is just another sign of baseball superstitious ways. Don't steal when you're well ahead, you do not want to add injury to insult.

There is so many more rules to say, just not enough space for it. Baseball is a very superstitious, and very aggressive sport. If you do anything to disturbed the flow of the game, or show up another team, then you should be ready for retaliation. If you do just one little thing wrong then you most likely have gone against the baseball unwritten rule book.