Tatis gets slammed for his slam; Baseball stifled by unwritten rules
The Unwritten Rules of Baseball are getting ripped apart by national media. All because the sport’s most exciting young star, San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr., swung on a 3-0 pitch with the bases loaded and his team seven runs ahead of the Texas Rangers in the eighth inning of a game Monday night.
The traditionalists of the sport reacted in horror. In baseball, as in other sports, piling on is frowned upon.
Christopher Russo, 60-year-old host of MLB Network’s High Heat, said: “There’s a lot not to like about it, but the first thing is he disobeyed a sign from his manager. Second, the Padres are set to score more in the inning, and they’re already up 7 runs, and Tatis already has one home run. Third, Tatis embarrassed his manager, Jayce Tingler, who came from the Rangers and is close to their manager, (Chris) Woodward.”
Billy Ripken, analyst for MLB Network, is 55 and was less offended: “He’s 21, and he probably hasn’t had the take sign all through his career, ‘cause he was raking. He probably doesn’t know what the take sign is. Did he disrespect the manager? I don’t think so. I think some of baseball’s unwritten rules have relaxed a little.”
But Ripken noted that Tatis received a chilly reception when he returned to the dugout after exuberantly circling the bases. Eric Hosmer was seen lecturing the young Dominican, and manager Jayce Tingler gave him a withering stare.
Which did not go over well with some fans of the sport. They say it’s time to burn the Book of Unwritten Rules. They say they’re unwritten because baseball is ashamed of them.
“He hit two bombs to go ahead of Mike Trout for the most homers in the major leagues,” Clinton Yates pointed out on ESPN’s Around the Horn. “This kid is too good to be worrying about this kind of crap. It strikes me as ridiculous that he apologized after the game. And don’t tell me Fernando Tatis Jr. doesn’t know the cultural norms of the game, because we all know who his dad is.”
Baseball fans constantly decry the lack of stars who show any individual personality – so much in contrast to the National Basketball Association and National Football League. Pablo Torre said on The Horn that “Fernando Tatis with his personality is the answer to baseball prayers. And now they’re throwing cold water all over it.”
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Sonny Gray expressed a similar view: “I have no issue with guys swinging 3-0. If you want to grow the game of baseball, you want to have players be themselves.”
Frank Isola of ESPN insisted Tatis showed no disrespect: “If he hits the grand slam and he’s taking more than a minute to go around the bases, that’s disrespecting the opponent. His job is to hit. This is a terrific young player. The game is for the fans. The players and their union and the commissioner need to remember that. How about this unwritten rule? Keep playing until the last out.”
Indeed. Anyone who’s watched 50 baseball games has probably seen one in which a team rallied to win after trailing by 7 runs in the 8th inning.
I once covered a game in which the Houston Astros were down six runs in the sixth, and Art Howe subbed out most of his lineup, in a gesture of surrender. I raised an objection in the press box.
My fellow scribes argued that the Astros “were done” and the manager was right to give his best players some rest in what was then a grueling 162-game season.
But as I see it, baseball is less exhausting than just about all sports except, perhaps, golf. Most ballplayers are at the stadium seven hours, and then they rest. Or drink. Until then, I want them going all out to score as many runs as possible.
Andy Nesbitt of USA Today observed: “For some reason there are still people who think professional athletes should stop doing their jobs when they have a big lead, like this is some tee-ball game with 8-year olds who don’t want to hurt the feelings of other 8-year olds.”
Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports wrote: “Tuesday morning’s conversation was not about Tatis, his two home runs Monday night, his 11 home runs in four weeks, and his captivating presence in a season that needs all the captivating it can get. Instead, we were treated to another lesson in decorum by a bunch of old people adhering to the wishes of a bunch of dead people.”
Of course, another unwritten rule is that if you break one, the other team has the right to throw at the head of one of your teammates.
Woodward ordered retaliation by Ian Gibaut, who dutifully fired a pitch behind Manny Machado. So the manager drew a 1-game suspension and the pitcher a 3-gamer.
Meanwhile, Tingler was talking about Tatis and “a lesson learned.” But in Tuesday’s game the rookie violated another unwritten rule, stealing a base when ahead 6-0. Is it really a sign of disrespect when you think your opponent is still in the game when trailing by six?
I say it’s time to move on from all this nonsense. I like this tweet from Seattle Mariners third base coach Manny Acta: “While coaching 3b in Montreal, I held up a runner out of ‘respect’ for the other club. Frank Robinson almost grabbed me by the ear and said to me: ‘Listen, son, you only have enough runs when you’re showering after a win.’”
