The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime
Where to buy The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime books online?
- ISBN13: 9780375424694
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more intricate than we realize. What truly governs the Major League game is a set of unwritten rules, some of which are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a huge lead late in the game), and some of which only a minority of players are even aware of (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes, ancient-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and painstakingly entertaining.
At the heart of this book are incredible and regularly hilarious tales involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it’s really played, through the eyes of the players on the meadow.
With rollicking tales from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.
Buy Cheap The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime Online
Related posts:
- The Unwritten Rules of Friendship: Simple Strategies to Help Your Child Make Friends
- Teach Your Baby to Sign: An Illustrated Guide to Simple Sign Language for Babies
- Who Rules America? Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance
- Out Stealing Horses
- Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
Professional baseball has a long tradition self-governing its participants to abide by some convoluted “Code” of behavior, which for the most part, is understood and followed; no questions questioned. But, things can get out of hand rather quickly when opposing teams have a difference of opinion in interpreting that “Code”; that’s when the fun starts.
Jason Turbow and Michel Duca have compiled an wide array of “Code Violations” throughout baseball history, and how everything played out between the warring factions; regularly, peace never reasonably gets restored, and fueds fester for many bitter seasons. Usually, when some unwritten protocol viotation pops up, peace is eventually restored; reasonably regularly the offending party’s own teammates dole out the prescribed corrective action, and the problem never rears its hideous head again.
For any fan of the game who finds this kind of stuff fascinating, this book is filled with enough anecdotes to entertain and amuse, from start to end. It gives a wonderful perspective on what you’ll never find in the boxscores; but, it’s as much a part of the game as anything that goes into the official record books; and in many cases, its impact has shortened some careers, while adding a colorful piece of folklore for others.
It’s the perfect book to get any fan of the game riled up for a new season. Now you know there’s much more to the game than the hits, runs and errors taking place between the lines; there’s much, much more.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Anyone who was raised with a like of baseball… when the grass was still real… when baseball was still truly America’s pastime… and was governed by “THE UNWRITTEN RULES… or CODES” as much if not more than the actual written rules… will like this book. Anyone that was raised when much of the grass was ASTRO Turf… but was lucky enough to have a prior generation’s lover of baseball teach them the way a professional really played AND RESPECTED this fantastic game… will like this book. This is a right unveiling of what really went on between the lines… in the clubhouse… and away from the meadow. The fantastic game of baseball had its own unwritten laws… and thus the players and managers were able to police themselves… when the official rule book didn’t provide proper justice. When should one team throw a bean ball at the additional to reciprocate for a hit batsman? Who should be hit by a retaliatory pitch… the offending pitcher?… the hitter who watched too long as his ball flew out of the park?… the hitter who “hot-persistent” around the bases?… the guy who slid too hard into a base?… the batter who took too long getting into the batter’s box?… the batter who walked in front of the catcher?… the player who was stealing signals? The questions and situations are nearly endless… and nearly all of these questions are answered in this book. When there’s a fight on the meadow which members of the team should join in?… Should any of the team not engage? What type of cheating is ok? Spitballs?… Scuffed balls?… Pine tar/Vaseline/slippery elm?… Corked bats?
How long should a *PAYBACK-GRUDGE* be carried and still be acted upon. In one such case fireball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson waited for fifteen years AFTER HIS RETIREMENT to hit a batter he felt he owed… in an ancient-timers game. Now don’t get me incorrect some of the “RULES” still exist today… but the leader makes it clear that due to the enormous money in today’s game… agents… and most players apt more like “visitors” on a team as compared to lifetime veterans in the ancient days… the full book of rules are no longer enforced.
The leader astutely points out major sections of the *CODE* such as when is it okay to steal… when is it okay to plow into the catcher… and of course if a “code/rule” is broken there… the resultant verdict leads to “bean-ball” revenge rules. Interspersed with rules and past proof are fantastic quotes from players like Hall of Famer “BIG-D” Don Drysdale who said: “THE PITCHER HAS TO FIND OUT IF THE HITTER IS TIMID, AND IF HE IS TIMID, HE HAS TO REMIND THE HITTER HE’S TIMID.” There is the sage wisdom that Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige passed on to future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan that would help shape Ryan’s record breaking career: “ONE OF THE BEST PITCHES IS THE BOW-TIE PITCH.” “Ryan had no thought what Paige was talking about. A bow-tie pitch, clarified the very ancient ballplayer, was “WHEN YOU THROW IT RIGHT HERE” – HE THEN MIMED A HORIZONTAL LINE ACROSS HIS ADAM’S APPLE, AS IF SLASHING HIS OWN THROAT- “WHERE THEY WEAR THEIR BOW TIE.”
A right fan will be mesmerized when many of the fantastic baseball fights are re-made including the game on August 12, 1984 between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres. SAN DIEGO INFIELDER KURT BEVACQUA LATER CALLED IT “the desert storm of baseball fights.” “TOTAL DAMAGE: SIX BRUSH BACK PITCHES, THREE HIT BATTERS, FOUR BENCH-CLEARING INCIDENTS, TWO FULL-ON BRAWLS THAT NEARLY SPIRALED OUT OF CONTROL WHEN FANS RUSHED THE FIELD, NINETEEN EJECTIONS, FIVE ARRESTS, AND A NEARLY UNPRECEDENTED CLEARING OF THE BENCHES BY THE UMPIRES.” Additionally one player out of uniform on the disabled list was sitting in the broadcasting booth… and he even wound up down on the meadow fighting.
There are also codes on how a pitcher being removed from the game by the manager should act. There is an absolutely hilarious transcription that covers parts of three pages (90-92) involving Dodger manager Tom Lasorda removing pitcher Doug Rau (Lasorda was miked) that has more four letter words than would be emitted by a drunken sailor who hit his finger with a hammer. The enjoyment derived from this book for any ancient school baseball fan is limitless. I’ll just list the chapter descriptions and you will have an thought of the fun awaiting you here.
1) KNOW WHEN TO STEAL `EM 2) RUNNING INTO THE CATCHER 3) TAG APPROPRIATELY 4) INTIMIDATION 5) ON BEING INTIMIDATED 6) SLIDE INTO BASES PROPERLY 7) DON’T SHOW PLAYERS UP
RESPONDING TO RECORDS 9) GAMESMANSHIP 10) MOUND CONFERENCE ETIQUETTE 11) RETALIATION 12) THE WARS 13) HITTERS 14) OFF THE FIELD 15) SIGN STEALING 16) DON’T PEEK 17) SIGN STEALING (STADIUMS) 18) IF YOU’RE NOT CHEATING, YOU’RE NOT TRYING 19) CAUGHT BROWN-HANDED 20) DON’T TALK ABOUT A NO-HITTER IN PROGRESS 21) PROTECT YOURSELF AND EACH OTHER 22) EVERYBODY JOINS A FIGHT 23) THE CLUBHOUSE POLICE.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5