Breaking Down the Unwritten Rules
This morning, my Twitter timeline was filled with about thirty people linking to the same article – a garage sale success story from Erik Malinowski. Malinowski found an issue of Baseball Digest from 1986 that contained baseball’s 30 “unwritten rules”, and so, I thought it might be fun to break each of them down and see whether they still hold true 26 years later.
1. Never put the tying or go-ahead run on base.
This seems more like a “good idea” than a rule, as it’s not really something a pitcher can control. My guess is that if they had their druthers, they’d never put anyone on base.
2. Play for the tie at home, go for the victory on the road.
This one isn’t baseball specific, as you hear announcers talk about this rule in every sport. As I understand it, the idea behind this is that the home team is more likely to win in extra innings (or overtime in other sports), so extending the game is more likely to lead to a win at home. Given that we know that home field advantage is something like 54-46 in baseball, much smaller than in other sports, this is one that probably applies much more in football or basketball.
3. Don’t hit and run with an 0-2 count.
Actually, with two outs, that might be the best time to hit and run. A batter’s expected outcomes are awful in 0-2 counts (league average of .152/.160/.217 last year), so the harm caused by a caught stealing is significantly diminished. The idea is that you don’t want to force the batter to swing at a pitch out of the zone to protect the runner when he doesn’t have any strikes to give, but a modified hit-and-run where he only swung at strikes might be a really great strategy.
4. Don’t play the infield in early in the game.
In most circumstances, this one’s right on. Unless you’re facing Roy Halladay and think that one run might just be enough to win it, you’re better off conceding an early run in order to minimize the chances of more hits getting through and leading to a big rally.
5. Never make the first or third out at third.
Maybe a better way of putting this is “don’t take unnecessary risks on the basepaths” – any good baserunner is going to eventually make an out at third that breaks this rule, but the logic behind it is sound.
6. Never steal when you’re two or more runs down.
This seems too conservative for my tastes. In the ninth inning, sure, but if you’re down 4-2 in the seventh inning and you get a great base stealer on first base, having him take second can put you in a significantly better position to get that run in and make it a one run game. Maybe at four runs I’d agree that you’re better off not risking the out, but two runs is just too narrow a gap to completely shut down an effective running game.
7. Don’t steal when you’re well ahead.
This is more of a courtesy thing, and I guess it’s up to every manager to decide what is “well ahead”. What if you have a four run lead, a bad bullpen, and you’re facing the Tigers? Are you comfortable with that? If not, add on. I can get behind not stealing runs when your win expectancy is north of 97 or 98 percent, but I wouldn’t stop trying to score runs against a good offense just to satisfy this unwritten rule.
8. Don’t steal third with two outs.
This is just the “third out at third base” rule again. In general, it’s mostly right.
9. Don’t bunt for a hit when you need a sacrifice.
Totally disagree. There’s no reason to not try and get on base when you’re bunting, even when you’re sacrificing. Not making the out is far more valuable than making the out, so if you can get the runner over and get yourself to first base, by all means, do it.
10. Never throw behind the runner.
“Unless he’s retreating to a base after tagging up, or you have him in a rundown, or he’s strayed too far off the base and your catcher has a strong arm.” Too many exceptions for this to be a rule.
11. Left and right fielders concede everything to center fielder.
In general, this works out most of the time. Nothing wrong with this guideline.
12. Never give up a home run on an 0-2 count.
Same deal with rule #1 – if pitchers could not give up home runs, they wouldn’t, no matter what the count. The spirit behind this one is to not center up a pitch when you’re in an 0-2 count, which is good advice, but this could be stated a lot better.
13. Never let the score influence the way you manage.
As Matt Meyers pointed out, this one invalidates nearly all of the rules that came before it, which is fun. This one’s just totally wrong – the score should absolutely dictate how you manage.
14. Don’t go against the percentages.
This is great if the managers actually know what percentages matter. Feel free to go against “this batter is 1 for 7 lifetime against this pitcher” all you want.
15. Take a strike when your club is behind in a ballgame.
In other words, do whatever you need to do to get on base and start a rally. Of course, if you believe that taking strikes is more likely to lead to getting on base, then you should probably adopt this as a strategy all the time. Getting on base more often is never bad.
16. Leadoff hitter must be a base stealer. Designated hitter must be a power hitter.
Nope. Still widely believed, but just straight up wrong.
17. Never give an intentional walk if first base is occupied.
I’d probably add in an exception about 8/9 situations in the NL, especially if the run is critical and you don’t believe the opposing manager will hit for the pitcher, but this one’s mostly right.
18. With runners in scoring position and first base open, walk the number eight hitter to get to the pitcher.
Early in the game, yes. Late in the game, you have to evaluate the other team’s pinch-hitting options and whether you’ll have to make a pitching change in order to preserve the platoon advantage.
19. In rundown situations, always run the runner back toward the base from which he came.
This is a good way to teach the rundown to kids, but it’s not really practical as a rule. Once you throw the ball to the guy behind the runner in order to try and apply the tag, he’s going to run away from the base. You have to chase him to apply the tag. But this is nitpicking – the idea is good.
20. If you play for one run, that’s all you get.
Amen.
21. Don’t bunt with a power hitter up.
Amen squared. I’d probably expand to to good non-power hitters too, but many of them are fast and good at bunting, so no quibbles here.
22. Don’t take the bat out of your best hitter’s hands by sacrificing in front of him.
Amen to the third power. This anti-bunting section is awesome.
23. Only use your bullpen stopper in late-inning situations.
Meh – in the playoffs, I’d have no problem going to my best reliever early in order to keep the game close. In the regular season, I’m okay with this.
24. Don’t use your stopper in a tie game—only when you’re ahead.
No, no, a thousand times no. This one is just horribly wrong.
25. Hit behind the runner at first base.
Meh – I’d rather have my guys try to get on base themselves than focus on moving runners over. It’s an okay byproduct, but it shouldn’t be the goal. The goal should be to not make an out.
26. If one of your players gets knocked down by a pitch, retaliate.
Hopefully, this one will get phased out of baseball, but we talked about that the other day.
27. Hit the ball where it’s pitched.
“Unless you’re Jose Bautista, in which case, pull everything.” Again, decent advice to teach a youngster how to hit, but doesn’t really apply to most Major League players, who already have developed strengths and weaknesses at the plate. You don’t want your pull-power slugger just trying to loop every outside pitch the other way. If he can’t pull it, not swinging is probably a better option.
28. A manager should remain detached from his players.
I guess I don’t really have an opinion on this one. Maybe that’s better, maybe it’s not. I don’t know.
29. Never mention a no-hitter while it’s in progress.
For on field personnel, there’s nothing wrong with this one. It probably wouldn’t help anything to be actively discussing it in front of the pitcher, so an outright ban is fine. That some fans try to carry it over to announcers and those watching the game is silly.
30. With a right-hander on the mound, don’t walk a right-handed hitter to pitch to a left-handed hitter.
But apparently, it’s totally okay for an LHP to walk an LHB to get to an RHB? This is basically just “don’t give up the platoon split”, but there are way too many exceptions to make this a rule. If your RHP wants to walk Dustin Pedroia to get to Nick Punto, that’s fine with me.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
31. No matter how bad he is, you can never release Brandon Inge.
Or Miguel Olivo…
Awesome….Leylands adopted son?
Hahaha… I really enjoyed this.
Don’t showboat a Homerun, see #26.
Some good, some bad, some stupid. Sounds like Fredi Gonzalez read this, then threw out all the information about when to not lay down a sacrifice bunt.
The Braves lost to the Rockies last year because they were “nice” and didn’t run with a big lead (despite the fact the Rockies weren’t holding guys on first). Oh well, it’s not like one more win would have made a difference…
Good one, TK. I would make Rule No. 1, “If the defense gives you the base, take it.”
The Braves found a lot of ways to give away ballgames last year.
Yeah. I prefer “we’ll stop trying to score runs when you do.”
Which rockies game? Atl only lost twice, 12-3 and 3-2. Neither of those games atl scored enough to ever take their foot off the gas pedal.
I think the game was actually in 2010. The Braves were 10-1 up after 3 and lost 12-10.
That was exactly the game I was thinking about when I read that rule too.
#11 is weird. there are flyball priorities all over the diamond, everyone who has played the game knows this. Why single out that one?
Agreed. RF’s typically have really strong arms as well, so if the play is going to third (i.e. a runner tagging from 2B on a flyball to right), the angle is typically better for a RF to take the fly and make the throw to 3B, rather than a CF needing to run around the ball’s path or throw across his body.
grady’s point was made in the Toronto-Boston game a few nights ago, when Rasmus ceded ground on a sac fly to Bautista. Joey Bats threw to 3B instead of home, and would have caught Pedroia if the ball hadn’t hit him in the arm before reaching Lawrie.
#11A: If you’re Colby Rasmus, cede every aspect of the game to Jose Bautista.
this was awesome Dave. You should create your own.
I always thought the play for a win on the road and a tie at home had to do with baseball specifically. The idea being that on the road, go for the win as an offense because the home team can just win the game in the bottom of the inning. As the home team, just focus on getting the runs you need to tie that game at the expense of a higher run expectancy. You can always have a chance to bat again next inning.
Pat, you beat me to this point by one minute. Didn’t mean to pile on with my subsequent comment.
All is good. You said it more eloquently.
This rule fits baseball particularly well, and other games with overtimes to a lesser extent. Obviously, there are all kinds of exceptions depending on your bench strength, how tired the teams are, who’s the better team . . . Come to think of it, this rule is pretty useless.
In English soccer, where there are no overtimes in the regular season, the “rule” is exactly the opposite: play to win at home and tie on the road. The theory is its better to tie a game up where you have a lesser chance to win (on the road) and break the game open where you have a better chance to win (at home).
All of these rules (except the courtesy rules, which are always wrong) are just considerations in figuring out what is the best percentage move, and any individual rule can be over-ruled by other considerations, i.e. they’re not rules, unwritten or otherwise.
Well, in soccer (and I guess hockey as well), I’m not sure if there exists a specific strategy where you can play for a tie whiel behind rather than playing for the win.
In basketball, if you’re the road team and down by two, you’re probably more likely to attempt a last second three pointer than a two.
In football, if you score a touchdown really late, you might prefer to go to go for two rather than to kick the PAT…but this is the sketchiest, I think. I think, in American Football, regardless of the overtime rules, the percentage play is to kick the PAT, accept the tie, and play on.
“. I think, in American Football, regardless of the overtime rules, the percentage play is to kick the PAT, accept the tie, and play on.”
No, its usually not. There’s been a lot of analysis on this, and fooball teams don’t go for 2, or go for it on fourth down nearly enough.
Its not about the percentages in football, its about how the media perceives it, and whether its going to affect the coaches employability. Nobody ever loses their job for kicking the XP and then losing in overtime. Going for 2 and getting it makes you the hero, but missing it may lose you your job.
Another way of putting it is that if you’re the home team, as soon as you tie, you win yourself three more guaranteed outs. Outs are a precious commodity.
I think you play for the lead so that you can use your “stopper” in the bottom half without violating Rule #24.
hehe, nice article
Here’s some logic!
19. In rundown situations, always run the runner back toward the base from which he came.
10. Never throw behind the runner.
See? 19 is DEFINITELY true – he’ll always be safe! They just need to re-arrange the order a little bit…
10. Never throw behind the runner.
Actually, I think this refers to an outfielder throwing the ball back into the infield. Always throw to the base in front of the runner.
#2 I think this one is more baseball specific than anything else owing to the structure of the game. It’s not the 54/46 advantage per se that dictates this rule, it’s that when a visiting team plays for a tie in the 9th, if it achieves that goal, the visitors still have an overwhelming chance of losing — about 67%. Even in the 8th, it’s about 60% in a tied game with the home team coming to the plate. Tying the game hasn’t really achieved much in terms of increasing a team’s chances of winning compared to what the chances were once the rally started.
On the other hand, playing to tie a game as a home team in the 9th (or extra innings) actually accomplishes the goal of getting the game back to an even proposition. (And mildly brings home field advantage back into play where it’s been about 3.5% of an advantage this decade in extra inning games.)
This, and the next couple, could just have been shortened to “Listen to Earl Weaver.”
+ a lot. I cannot reccomend his book enough.
You can tell if a manager is old school by no. 16 esp with the lead-off guy.
DH imo should be the best bat with the worst defense.
32. The #2 batter has good contact skills, knows how to bunt or gets on base.
33. Don’t steal with the middle of the lineup coming up.
See, the funny thing is, apparently you’re not supposed to bunt in front of really good hitters. But then, your #2 hitter is supposed to bunt a lot, and your #3 hitter is a really good hitter, right?
The old school unwritten rules are full of contradictions.
True dat.
With #9 I think it’s more make sure of the sacrifice FIRST. Don’t try to do any fancy placement other than down either line. Bunting for a base hit involves more of putting it in that Bermuda triangle area between the pitcher, first baseman, and second baseman. (And none of it really matters because I abhor about 95% of all bunts)
The others I’m in complete agreement with.
Bill James has written very well about bunting. If you mean traditional “telegraphed” sacrifice bunting, I agree completely with Dave about its uses and difficulties. If you mean bunting with the primary idea of reaching base somehow (hit, ROE, fielders choice) and only advancing the runners as a lesser second alternative, it’s a different story altogether. The bunt, in this sense, is under-taught and under utilized, in my view, particularly in the lower-run environments of today.
Rule 1: They are probably talking about intentional walks.
Bingo. It has to be that. Matt’s right.
34. Never call the umpire a c*cks*ck*r.
Good thing you censored that, i can’t tell at all what word you’re trying to use
A pretty sound rule. It perhaps should also be extended to include the opposing pitcher, unless you don’t have to bat against him again in which case it is fine. And in particular if his first name is Bob and last name Gibson (ie, don’t do it even in an oldtimers’ game or you’ll wish you hadn’t).
I always hated rule #7. Baseball is entertainment, and fans pay to watch the game being played at the highest level for 9 innings. A professional sports team should never take their foot off the accelerator. Why would I want to see professional athletes play half-assed to protect the emotional well-being of the opposition? These guys are all multimillionaires. I can see playing a little more conservatively to prevent injury, but come on, steal a base, make things interesting in a blow out.
I bet you hated the San Antonio Spurs championship teams, too. Where were all the dunks??
Honestly, they were boring… sorry.
See rule #26
If I’m leading 15-0, I don’t want my guys trying to steal. It’s not worth the risk of injury or a possible retaliatory plunking just to gain an extra base.
Boring or not. Think of it as running the clock in football.
Difference is you can’t run out the other team’s “clock” (outs) in baseball when you’re on offense. As far as I’m concerned, it’s pedal to the metal until the other manager signals surrender by emptying his bench, at which point you put in your subs and have them play as hard as they can.
“running out the clock” increases a team’s chances to win. Playing “not to embarass the other team” doesn’t.
Ok, so it’s the 8th inning, I’m leading 15-0, runner on third, two outs. Roy Halladay, still pitching, is up. Halladay bunts. THe runner heads for home.
Should Doc bust his ass trying to run out a bunt, risking injury; or should the most valuable player on the team take it easy, knowing that his only real chance at making first is an error by the infield?
He should hustle it out, huh?
Excellent topic, and great insights.
16. Leadoff hitter must be a base stealer. Designated hitter must be a power hitter. – Nope. Still widely believed, but just straight up wrong.
I assume the reasoning behind this is that all hitters should be evaluated by their overall performance? E.g. look up a bunch of DHs or leadoff hitters over the past few years, sort by their wOBA, eliminate the power hitters or base stealers (as appropriate) from that list and you still have a great group of players?
I’m not recalling any players with profound success who contributed well as a DH over their career primarily via singles and walks. But obviously that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Still, look over this list of DHs from the past 12 years sorted by wOBA, remove the power hitters, and tell me how eager you are to have the top 5 to 10 of them as your fulltime DH…
I don’t think a guy who only gets singles and walks is a good hitter. But there’s a difference between pure power hitters and guys that are good hitters.
Edgar Martinez was one of the best DH’s ever, and he averaged about 20 home runs a year. He wasn’t a great power hitter by any standards, and certainly not the standards of his contemporaries, where 50 home run seasons became almost commonplace. But he was a great damn DH all the same.
There’s Joe Mauer, too. He’s hardly a power hitter in the traditional sense, but he’s a really good hitter who would also make a fine DH. He can add plenty of additional value by catching occasionally, but if he ends up as a DH about 50% of the time, that’s perfectly acceptable, and you’re happy with the offensive contributions you’re getting from him.
So really, it comes down to your definition of “power hitter.” If your definition of “Power hitter,” is “Guy who hits the ball really well,” then yes, I guess your DH really does need to be a power hitter.
Paul Molitor was mostly a singles hitter, and a very good DH. The fact is hardly any hitters are good enough to get by on singles and walks, as compared to those that add power to the mix.
Dave, your #26 retaliation link is broke. Did you mean Wendy’s post a couple of days ago?
17. Never give an intentional walk if first base is occupied.
Unless Barry Bonds during the steroid era is up.
I think you meant Barry Bonds in any era
I would walk a 2000-2004 Bonds with the bases loaded.
Bob Brenly agrees.
I remember a game where Pujolds was coming up, bases loaded, opposing team had a two run lead, late inning. I yelled, “Home Plate is open” at the TV.
Grand slam HR.
This was before the Cards picked up Holiday, much less Berkman, so it wasn’t like anyone was coming up after him.
Grabbed the [granted old] run expectancy table; the unweighted average change in RE with a walk with 1st occupied was 0.74 runs, second 0.65 runs, third 0.58 runs…
I remember hearing Larry Dierker, in a radio interview several years ago, discussing his low opinion of rule 18. I don’t remember his exact words, but it was something like “that guy’s probably hitting 8th for a reason, you should be able to get him out”. And maybe he was right; it seems like, in many cases, walking the 8th place hitter in an NL lineup might be wasting a very good opportunity to get an out.
And there is a lot to be gained by having the pitcher lead off.
re: 19 and teaching kids– I think it’s more important to teach them to make as few throws as possible in the squeeze.
Agreed. Move toward the runner, make them commit to the base, and throw once they’re ~75% of the way.
In addition to showing the ball, moving inside or outside to have a clear lane, and NOT pump faking. Also, move in to squeeze the runner off, and follow your throw!
Where is the rule about not running across the pitcher’s mound?
Its right next to the one about rookies yelling at future HOFs…oh wait.
Its in the Yankees unwritten rulebook. Also included is an unwritten rule that there must be at least 1 minute between pitches.
i think you mean the A’s rule book…
“1 min. Between pitches …” I think you mean the Red Sox unwritten rulebook.
***12. Never give up a home run on an 0-2 count.
Same deal with rule #1 – if pitchers could not give up home runs, they wouldn’t, no matter what the count. The spirit behind this one is to not center up a pitch when you’re in an 0-2 count, which is good advice, but this could be stated a lot better. ***
Its poorly worded but what the rule means is you dont throw a hittable pitch when you’re up 0-2 in the count. If you screw up and groove a fastball down the middle…fine but dont deliberately give the batter anything he could actually hit out.
Unless of course the hitter is Vlad Guerrero in his prime at which point you could bounce it up there and he’d hit it out…so this rule doesnt apply to Vlad. Basically an 0-2 pitch should never be in the zone…EVER.
Yeah, but, what if the hitter is taking all the way on 0-2 because he knows you aren’t going to throw it in the zone? Then you turn it around by actually throwing a pitch in the zone and bam, backwards K.
Unless the hitter knows that you’re expecting him to take all the way, and that you’re gonna throw it in the zone, and then he’ll look to swing. In that case, you should try out of the zone.
Greg Maddux would like to have a word with you.
Why? Even Strikes 1 & 2 would have been 6 inches off the plate for Greg.
I kinda skimmed through the list, so maybe I missed it, but where’s the “STAY OFF OF MY MOUND!” rule?
How old do you think Dallas Braden was in 1986?
#29 – No Dave, we still won’t forgive Sims. If it wasn’t that, then we would have found something else to complain about him over. He just isn’t a good baseball announcer. Great at football and even basketball, but he still gets fired up about lazy pop up to the SS.
He’s one of the absolute worst.
But if he talked about a no-hitter in progress, that’s one redeeming quality.
Excellent stuff. You should use your connections to get this posted on the wall in Joe Girardi’s office!
#17 should have a Barry Bonds exception, shouldn’t it?
#3 Your idea of a modified hit-and-run is what I would call telling the runner to steal.
On an 0-2 count, the batter should already be swinging at strikes and taking balls and is probably already swinging for contact rather than power, so there is no need for a hit and run sign, just a steal.
#7 Stealing with a big lead is a great way for younger guys and guys who don’t get many steal opportunities to practice getting a good jump, so they have a higher success rate in the future when they need it. I agree you shouldn’t do it with the intent of driving up the score, but hey, if it technically a bad idea to steal in front of the #3 batter, why not try it when you are well ahead?
Clearly, #1 is talking about _intentionally_ putting the runner on base.
Most of these rules sound more like “the book” than the mythical “unwritten rules”. #1 is like that, it’s just common strategy. The “unwritten rules”, as I know them, are the ones that reflect the gentlemanly nature of the sport. One of those unwritten rules, aptly not not written here, is that you shouldn’t swing away on a 3-0 count if you have a big lead. Another is that you don’t stand and admire a long home run. Yet another is that as a batter, you don’t peek back at the catcher giving signals. Another still is that you don’t try to bunt for a base hit in the late innings of a no-hitter game (I am completely opposed to this one).
I had also always interpreted rule #1 to be talking about intentionally putting the tying or go ahead runner on base. I would also agree that these sound more like conventional strategy rather than unwritten rules.
Re: #21, Brian McCann (and probably others) will occasionally try to drop a hard bunt down the third base line to beat the shift and keep the defense honest, which I don’t mind a bit. I know some Braves’ fans hate it, but if your options with no one on base and no strikes are a) bunting the ball foul or missing it for a strike, or b) bunting it successfully inside of third base, so that there’s probably an 80-90% chance of reaching first base safely, I like the idea. If you bunt it foul or miss it, you still have two strikes to play with. Now if the bases are loaded, obviously I’d want him swinging away.
Carlos Pena does this frequently. It’s great fun to watch.
Where’s the rule about not bunting with a no-hitter going in the late innings? I love that rule.
If I were managing, I’d almost want my teams to get no-hit, just so I could order a bunch of bunts in the 8th and 9th. Especially in a close game.
22. Don’t take the bat out of your best hitter’s hands by sacrificing in front of him.
Amen to the third power. This anti-bunting section is awesome.
Mattingley did that twice last year to Matt Kemp, and one against the Braves (with Kershaw on the mound) tempted the baseball gods and not only did Kemp get walked, but Aaron Miles had a horrible error that cost Kershaw the game.
#6. A lot of times a player will steal in the 9th inning when his team’s trailing by two or more. But since he’s not being held on, he doesn’t get credit for a steal. Rather the base is attributed to catcher’s indifference.
Don’t step on Dallas Braden’s mound!
Don’t wash Jeff Kent’s truck.
Bunting to break up a no hitter or perfect game.
That’s BS…what if its a 1-0 game? Its the batter’s job to get on base regardless of the pitcher’s efforts toward a no-hitter.
I think the original article was NOT things you should do or not do, but rather: this is the conventional wisdom; the unwritten rules that, right or wrong, most managers follow. In that sense, the rules we most agree with (e.g. the anti-bunt rules) may not have been as valid as some of the ones we disagre with. By the way, I think #1 is talking about INTENTIONAL walks – never intentionally put the tying or go-ahead run on base.
5. Never make the first or third out at third.
Maybe a better way of putting this is “don’t take unnecessary risks on the basepaths”…
Your proposed rewording misses the point of this rule, which is to emphasize some specific, situational unnecessary risks that serve the more general baserunner’s goal that you quote. You say, “Don’t take unnecessary risks on the basebaths.” If a player were to ask, “How? What are some particularly glaring unnecessary risks that are easy to avoid?”, Rule #5 provides the answer.
#1 offers clarification by saying “put on”. That means the D intentionally puts the runner on.
#5 is also a pretty good rule, rather than listing a bunch of “excepts”. The idea is that many ways to score a runner from 3rd with 2 outs also score a runner from second.
Not all managers adhere to all of the rules, which is why there’s some contradictions.
Joe Maddon broke rule #1 twice in a series putting Cabrera on 1st (once moving the tying run to 2B) to face Boesch in the midst of a horrible slump … it worked both times.
#16– Thats what I like about the rangers!!