When is it not OK for a baserunner to steal a base? Why do pitchers sometimes retaliate when one of their teammates is hit by a pitch and other times do not? When is it considered improper to steal your opponent’s signs? These questions and more are answered in The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime which has just been added to the library’s 3rd floor popular reading collection.
Through extensive research and interviews with former major league players, managers, and broadcasters, the authors examine baseball’s "informal rulebook" - the set of unwritten rules that govern the conduct of the game. They explore this constantly evolving "code" over the past 100 years, providing stories and anecdotes from many of the all-time greats, who share their insights into some of the game’s most hallowed traditions.
For more on the book, read a review, listen to an interview with one of the authors, or read an excerpt (here and here).
