5 Dumbest Unwritten Rules in Sports
Orioles catcher Chance Sisco caused an uproar on Sunday when he bunted against the shift in the ninth inning of Baltimore’s 7-0 loss to the Twins. The 23-year-old rookie was doing everything in his power to engineer a late-game rally, but Minnesota reacted as though he had just set an orphanage on fire.
Chance Sisco doesn’t mind if you put the shift on him. The #Orioles‘ No. 3 prospect had no trouble laying down this bunt for an easy single ?@Orioles Top 30 list: https://t.co/oB8UYJ6DbL pic.twitter.com/NHKryIQV2m
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 1, 2018
Twins pitcher Jose Berrios complained it wasn’t “good for baseball”, outfielder Eddie Rosario immediately dismissed it as a bad play, and All-Star second baseman Brian Dozier insinuated that Sisco’s own teammates should sit him down and read him the riot act. “Obviously, we’re not a fan of it,” Dozier said afterwards. “I could’ve said something at second base but they have tremendous veteran leadership over there.”
Players are not supposed to take advantage of a shift despite the fact that shifts clearly take advantage of player’s inherent limitations.
There was nothing wrong with what Cisco did per se, but the problem, as he soon discovered, was that he had violated one of baseball’s many unwritten rules. Players are not supposed to take advantage of a shift despite the fact that shifts clearly take advantage of players’ inherent limitations.
Baseball has more unwritten rules than most sports, but they’re far from alone. Here are five other boneheaded decrees that you won’t find in any rule book.
5. Don’t Talk During a Backswing
There are several places in the world where you should reasonably expect silence at all times. Libraries, monasteries, and intensive care units all spring to mind. Golf courses do not, but don’t dare tell that to golfers, who expect to operate in a complete soundless void whenever they pick up a Titleist.
Look, you’re swinging a club, not performing delicate eye surgery. If Major Leaguers can hit 98 MPH curves with a rounded bat while fans go nuts then surely golfers can also hit a perfectly still ball while someone ten feet away has a conversation with a friend.
4. Don’t Flip Your Bat After a Home Run
Hitting a home run is one of the hardest things to do in professional sports, and yet batters are expected to behave as though launching a tiny leather sphere 400-feet into the upper deck is no big deal.
Jose Bautista found that out the hard way in 2015 when he exuberantly flipped his bat after hitting an epic three-run moonshot against Texas in the ALDS.
In exact 2 years ago, Jose Bautista hit 3 run home run to save his team. Bat flip , LEGEND
— Mo (@JohnWallGOAT) October 14, 2017
Bautista’s flip launched a million memes and made the six-time All-Star public enemy number one in the Rangers’ clubhouse. Starting pitcher Cole Hamels criticized him for disrespecting the game, and reliever Sam Dyson ripped him a new one for failing to be a good role model. “He’s doing stuff that kids do in Wiffleball games and backyard baseball,” Dyson complained. “It shouldn’t be done.”
Jose Bautista, asked if he had any reaction to Sam Dyson saying his bat flip was backyard baseball: “No.”
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
The Rangers were right to be upset, but their anger was completely misdirected. They should have saved their harshest critiques for Dyson himself after serving up such a big meatball.
3. Don’t Score a Basket in the Dying Seconds of a Blowout
An NBA game can be divided into two parts: 1) regulation and 2) end of regulation. During regulation, a team is encouraged to score as many points as possible regardless of the margin or disparity in competition. At the end of regulation, however, the leading team is expected to hold onto the ball during the final possession if the game is out of reach.
Lance Stephenson broke that unwritten rule last season by going in for a layup with 3.3 seconds on the clock in an easy-breezy 107-90 win against the Raptors. The fallout of his basket was explosive and instantaneous as PJ Tucker and DeMar DeRozan got in his grill and both benches spilled out onto the court and began shoving each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8FeipfoLcQ
The feeling among many players is that you shouldn’t pile on when a team has already conceded a loss, but the real problem here is that they conceded at all. Players should have enough professional pride to play for a full 48 minutes rather than mentally checking out with 24 seconds on the clock. Play hard until the final buzzer or don’t play at all.
2. Don’t Bunt During a No-Hitter
Yup, another nonsensical decree from the world of baseball, where no-hitters are considered to be as rare and magical as gift-granting unicorns.
No-hitters are considered to be as rare and magical as gift-granting unicorns.
There’s a tacit understanding among ballplayers that a batter should never, ever try to break-up something as majestic as a no-hitter with something as common as a bunt. When they do, as Francisco Lindor did against the Royals in 2015, they become the subject of intense scorn.
Fans at Kauffman Stadium booed Lindor loudly for having the audacity to try to break open a tight 2-0 game, and social media users went so far as to call his actions “classless”, “weak”, and “chicken shit.”
@MLB @Royals Kind of a baseball rule that you don’t bunt to break up a no hitter… Lost a lot of respect for Lindor right there
— Benji Garrison (@Benjl22) September 27, 2015
We get it, no-hitters are special, but if a pitcher is good enough to throw a no-no then he should also be good enough to defend a bunt. It’s one of the most elemental plays in the game and should lead to an automatic out if the pitcher and catcher are on the same page.
1. Don’t Hit a Quarterback Who is Defending an Interception
If you ask most quarterbacks they’ll tell you that they consider themselves football players first and foremost. They’ll proudly assert that they do the same strength and conditioning drills as their teammates, they make the same sacrifices in the offseason, and that they’re just as committed to winning. And yet, for some reason, they expect to be handled like they’re made out of Waterford crystal the moment they step onto the gridiron.
That’s especially true after quarterbacks throw an interception and race down the field to try to prevent the opposition from scoring. They don’t have to try to bring down an opponent, but the moment they do they should be treated just like any other player on the field and be subjected to the same pain and punishment. If a 6’0” signal caller is stupid enough to take on a 6’5” 300 lb. linebacker then he should get what’s coming to him.
Ryan worked as an Editor and resident Lead NBA and MLB Writer for SB from 2017-19. He has authored his own weekly columns for Fox Sports and AskMen, and has created successful campaigns for the WWE, the NHL, and the NFL. Ryan's critically acclaimed stories have been published in 20 books.
