Unwritten Rules versus Thug Baseball II

Photo from Getty Images (Photographer uncredited)

Three years ago, I wrote about the stupidity of baseball's unwritten rules. After last night, I need to write a sequel.

By now, you've heard about the infamous slide into Dustin Pedroia from a couple weeks ago (and here's a video that includes the slide from MLB Network in case you haven't seen it). It was a reckless slide, to be sure, but I don't think it was a dirty one.

Of course, none of that matters, as the next day the Red Sox went after Machado.

[Video from MLB.com]

Supposedly, this was the end of it. Barnes got suspended for his attempted assault and Machado moved on from it. But then yesterday in the second game of a four game set at Fenway, the bad blood was renewed.

[video from MLB.com]

I included the later home run as part of the video because that just adds to the lore of it all, and is the best response to this kind of thuggery. And that's what this is. It's thug baseball.

Photo by Michael Dwyer (AP)

I find this whole situation somewhat ironic; the last post I wrote with this title was surrounding a play involving Manny Machado of all people, who seems to keep finding himself in situations like this. He handled the heat of the moment perfectly well, saving his revenge for on the field where he took his sweet time trotting the bases after his home run. And he saved the brunt of his anger for after the game with a profanity-laced tirade, which I'm fine with (and Lee Elia probably is too).

The Red Sox, meanwhile, need to be condemned for this. The argument I've heard for Chris Sale throwing at Machado last night stemmed from Mookie Betts getting hit last night. The other justification I've heard for Sale's pitch was that at least he didn't aim at Machado's head. That's fair to a point, but Sale threw at Machado's knees, which he has an injury history with, so the argument is invalidated in my eyes.

Here we get to the crux of the argument and the first part of this post's title. It has long been the unwritten rule of baseball that revenge is meted out by plunking an opponent. You slide hard into someone, you get drilled. Your pitcher hits the other team's best hitter, your best hitter needs to brace for one to the ribs. The players police the game, that whole thing. To an extent, I get it. You need to protect your superstars, and these unwritten rules are supposed to be in place to allow for this.

Photographer uncredited (Photo from Deadspin)

But the problem is this: it's 2017. We should be beyond advocating for assault with a deadly weapon, because evilly wielded, that's what this is. Most pitchers know better than to throw at someone's head, but the knees still seem to be okay. Both are dangerous, and taking a 95-plus mile per hour baseball to the back, ribs, or butt is still not pleasant either. And yet many players, coaches, and fans seem to still be okay with this. I see it fairly often among the racist, homophobic [crap]heads who follow the Cardinals, even though they aren't fully representative of the fan base. Yet it's ingrained into the culture of baseball, and that's the hardest thing about this.

It's hard to fight against a clear cultural norm, where the players, coaches, and even a lot of the former players-turned-analysts condone and endorse. It has to start with the younger generation, but they're being influenced by the current and previous generation who all say it's okay. But throwing at guys serves no purpose. I guess I could justify throwing in tight at a guy, but not intentionally hitting them. The only other way that can change is with a top down order from Rob Manfred, something I don't see coming. So until players wise up, we're going to continue seeing the caveman tactics of assault for slights both real and imagined, and eventually, someone is going to get hurt by it. I just hope it's not something career ending or life threatening when it does happen.