The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, & Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime

The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, & Bench-Clearing Brawls:
the Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime
by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca
Random House, 2010. 294 pgs. Non-Fiction

Thanks to Turbow and Duca, and lucky for fans of the game, baseball's unwritten rules are written down at last. Everyone knows a pitcher has to smack an opposing player if one of his own teammates has been drilled. But who knew how many variation there are on that imperative: do you just hit the next guy who comes up? or wait for a player of similar value? And what happens when your pitcher is trying to hit one of their guys but keeps missing? "Rules" for when and how you are allowed to take out the second baseman on a slide, when you can try to stretch a single into a double (not with a seven or more point lead in the late innings), and when you can act like you've been hit by a pitch when you haven't or pretend that you don't have the ball when you do. And never, never stand at the plate and admire your own home run before circling the bases. The Baseball Codes is a rare treasure for fans of America's true and enduring pastime, particularly good reading for those who came up with the game before BIG MONEY laid waste.

LW