Friday, September 3, 2010

This unwritten baseball rule will not catch on

Through my associations, I know a lot of unwritten rules exist in professional baseball--like thou shall not dance to your theme music before entering the batter's box. Infractions of rules like this one will get a batter drilled in the back by a fastball, then the manager or coach that ordered the hit may later remind that same downed batter they still want him to speak at their youth camp during the off-season. The unwritten rules trump friendships.

Last night during the Railcats last regular season home game, I learned a new unwritten baseball rule. Maybe this is only a minor league/independent league rule, but I DO NOT think it is going to catch on.

http://www.post-trib.com/sports/2669268,bbm-railcats-0903.article

...With two outs in that inning, things escalated. On the first pitch after Schaumburg manager Mike Busch made a mound visit to Aaron Guinn, the right-hander hit John Parham. And on the next pitch, Guinn hit Adam Klein. A furious Tagert hopped out of the dugout, with Busch appearing to tell him to go back. Guerrero had to restrain Tagert, as the dugouts emptied again after Tuesday's drama over a home-plate collision, before order was restored with no ejections.

Tagert said the Flyers were upset about comments fans in the stands were making during at-bats.
...


The comments fans made during at-bats upset the Schaumburg Flyers?!? That is why I do not think this unwritten rule will gain popularity. How does a manager control the comments of the fans?!? Manager Mike Busch told Manager Greg Tagert to control those M----- F-----'s. That is why he ordered the Gary Railcats players hit, he went on to say (I sit in the front row, so I hear it all at the ballpark). Of course, Greg Tagert threw his hands up and said What do you want ME to do about the fans??? They're going to say stuff. It got funnier after things calmed down, well maybe not for John Parham. Another fan, who sits next to the visiting dugout every game kept yelling They better not hit you (Parham) again or I'm running out on the field. You guessed it. It was all about rude fans. The next time at bat Parham got drilled in the back a second time to spite this noisy fan. You also guessed it, the fan hugged his seat and did not make the slighted move toward the field. Instead, the fan yelled Well, if it happens again I'm there for you Parham.

I do not care much for obnoxious fans either, but what can a person do? Heckling is a time-tradition part of baseball. This new unwritten rule does not have any legs. The offending pitcher and manager were tossed from the game, Parham probably wished they would have picked on someone else, and there are still plenty of talkative people in the stands that will never face an 88 mph fastball between the shoulder blades.

No comments:

Post a Comment