Baseball’s Most Disrespectful Home Runs

[George K]

I had no idea this was "a thing." But, I don't follow baseball, so...

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-home-runs-violated-baseballs-unwritten-rules-the-most/?ex_cid=538twitter

The backlash stemmed from a breach of an unwritten rule of baseball: Mercedes had swung away on a 3-0 count while his team was winning by a ton. What constitutes “a ton”? It’s not always clear. It’s also possible that Mercedes violated a more general unwritten statute against embarrassing one’s opponent, given the combination of the 3-0 count, Chicago’s 15-4 lead, and the fact that the Twins had waved the white flag by bringing in a position player, utilityman Willians Astudillo, to pitch.

Did Mercedes really violate baseball’s non-rules? If so, how severe an imaginary crime did he commit? How rare was his transgression? And have past aggressors against the sport’s unspoken honor code faced the same firestorm Mercedes did? To answer these questions, let’s start where all fruitful hunts begin: in Baseball-Reference.com’s Stathead search tool.

According to Stathead, major league hitters have hit at least 14 home runs that meet the following criteria: They were hit on a 3-0 count, in the seventh inning or later, while the batter’s team led by six or more runs. (Six is an arbitrary number right on the edge of blowout territory, which suits the arbitrary nature of rules that aren’t written anywhere.)

[Catseye3]

Baseball Schmaseball.

[George K]

@catseye3 said in Baseball’s Most Disrespectful Home Runs:

Baseball Schmaseball.

Pretty much my feeling as well. I just found it interesting amusing silly that people get worked up over this type of shit.

Even more silly that people write columns about it.

[Horace]

As unwritten rules go, that is an incredibly stupid one.

[George K]

@horace said in Baseball’s Most Disrespectful Home Runs:

As unwritten rules go, that is an incredibly stupid one.

I'm glad someone wrote about it. Now it's no longer an unwritten rule.

[Copper]

The fight is the thing

If you are losing you want to fight

"Lose the Game, Win the Fight" was what we used to say

Many long years ago

Boys will be boys

I know, woke, woke, woke

I can't imagine the day when young men won't want to fight, but we seem to be working on it