Taking Out the Catcher and Baseball’s Unwritten Rules
Please forgive me. The first true blog post on this new site is about, of all things, baseball. It’s not even my favorite sport, and I’m a former sports writer who has moved onto “bigger beats” like politics, environment and travel guidebook updating. (Check out my résumé on the top rail up there.)
But something drew my attention today so I thought I’d get my thoughts down on the page. Please don’t let the subject matter dissuade you from ever coming back.
Nyjer Morgan, provocatively-named outfielder for the moribund Washington Nationals, was in the middle of a pretty sweet brawl on Tuesday. Earlier in the game, he’d been hit by a pitch. And when Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad threw another pitch behind Morgan’s back, the diminutive former hockey player tossed his bat aside, charged the mound, threw a roundhouse punch that grazed the offending pitcher’s face, and then was then taken down with a WWF-style (that’s World Wrestling Federation, not the World Wildlife Fund or whatever. I was born in 1983, haven’t watched wrestling in years, and don’t care that it’s now technically the WWE.) clothesline from first baseman Gaby Sanchez, who had come out of rhetorical left field.
Here’s the video:
Whoops, no youtube. Thanks for ruthlessly enforcing your copyright, MLB. And no, I can’t embed the video either. Ugh. This is 2010 and all I can do is post a link. Lame.
Anyway, what led up to this? Morgan’s penchant for needlessly running over catchers and general disrespect for the game of baseball.
On Aug. 28, with the Nats up 9-5 and the sacs packed in the bottom of the 8th inning, a double down the right field line sent Morgan merrily on his way from 1st base. But rather than tag home plate, as is usually the case in this sport, Morgan appeared to go out of his way to make contact with Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson, who was standing a step or two in front of the dish, toward the pitcher’s mound. Watch the video.
Manager John Riggleman (Morgan’s boss) called the play “unprofessional” and suggested it was because Morgan was venting frustration at being demoted from 1st to 8th in the batting order. “I think he thought I was wearing that [catcher's] equipment there at home plate,” Riggleman said, according to Nationals Daily News.
“You’ve never seen that before [from Morgan],” Riggleman said, presumably referring to the play and not to being the target of fantasized workplace violence. “You’ll never see it again.”
Well, not for at least a few days.
On Aug. 31, Morgan attempted to score from second base on a slow chopper — a ridiculous, silly idea not unlike Willie Mays Hayes’ dramatic game-winner in the original Major League. With Marlins catcher Brett Hayes blocking the plate, Morgan put his head down and delivered a solid shot, dislodging Hayes’ shoulder from its socket but not the ball from his hand. Out at home. Inning over. Check the video.
At first blush, I liked this play by Morgan. I think there should be more collisions at home plate.
My favorite story about Willie Mays, the G.O.A.T., is one I can’t verify to be true but will retell just the same. When scoring from second base on a single, Mays would routinely slow down as he rounded third base to draw the throw home, then speed up and knock over the catcher at the precise moment when it would send the ball careening away, allowing his teammates to advance. That’s just plain smart.
My favorite story about Pete Rose — baseball’s all-time hit king — is a home-plate collision with catcher Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game that gave the National League a 5-4 win in extra innings. That play — in an exhibition game, no less — screwed up Fosse’s shoulder permanently and changed the trajectory of his entire career. Watch Rose explain the play by saying players’ obligation to the ticket-buying fans is to “bust your ass and play as hard as you possibly can.” That’s pretty damn cool, even if he did bet on baseball.
And the most objectively dramatic MLB moment of the last decade was, in my opinion, was then-Marlin Pudge Rodriguez holding onto the ball like it was a flaming human heart in Temple of Doom after he tagged out the Giants’ J.T. Snow to clinch the Division Series in 2003. I didn’t even need to look up that information to get it right, and I usually don’t remember anything, especially from my college years.
They key thread weaving between those classic plays is that the crash at the plate was part of a greater desire to score a run and win a game. Yes, it was violence, but it was violence with a higher purpose.
The reason Morgan’s two plays at the plate are so insulting is not because I’m some baseball pacifist who wants the runner and the catcher to resolve their differences with words but because I want the runner’s primary mission to be scoring the run, not inflicting pain on the opposing team (unless it’s the Yankees). I like my national pasttime without a side helping of schadenfreude. (Again, unless it’s the Yankees.)
Not only were Morgan’s decisions to initiate contact with the catcher totally unnecessary, they actually cost his team the run in both cases. Against the Cardinals, he could have easily touched home but went out of his way to hit the catcher despite the fact that there had been no throw home. Morgan missed the plate and was called out when a teammate (Pudge, ironically) grabbed him and directed him back toward the base.
Against the Marlins, in the 10th inning of a 0-0 game, Morgan would almost assuredly have been safe had he slid, but instead took advantage of the high throw by plowing into the ribs of the exposed catcher. He dislocated his opponent’s shoulder and cost himself the run and his team the game — they went on to lose, 1-0.
That’s not just schadenfreude, that’s cutting off your nose to spite your face. It’s stupid, it’s juvenile, it’s unprofessional (h/t Riggleman) and it has no place in baseball.
So let’s get back to the Marlins’ reaction to the dirty play, where this rant began.
I’m not an expert on the unwritten rules of baseball. (Can someone write them down already? Can we get a compilation?) I had never heard of the “No-crossing-my-mound-when-I’m-pitching” rule until Dallas Braden and his grandmother took issue with A-Rod. Maybe it was fabricated just to cover for enforcing, long after the statute of limitations had expired, the “no-carrying-purses-while-you-run-to-first-base” rule that A-Rod had broken against the Red Sox in the playoffs a few years back.
Regardless, I think the unwritten rules hinge on respect — for your opponent and for the game itself.
The Marlins, for good reason, took exception to Morgan’s decision to go out of his way to hurt their catcher, so they threw at him. Hitting someone with a fastball is the standard punishment for violations of baseball’s unwritten code.
Now, Morgan could have accepted his penalty and went on his way. But he decided to steal 2nd and 3rd base while his team trailed by 11 runs. That’s a violation of another unwritten rule, for you uninitiated readers out there, although that one is designed to protect players from their own stupidity and maximize the chance of victory.
Not stealing bases in a game you’re down by many more than the amount of runs you could hope to gain by stealing those bases falls into the same category as rules that say you shouldn’t make the first or last out of an inning at third base, shouldn’t overthrow the cutoff man and shouldn’t swing at a 3-0 pitch unless you’re really sure. The risk outweighs the reward. It’s just bad business.
It’s not the same as stealing bases when you’re up a bunch of runs, taking a leisurely home run trot, throwing shards of a shattered bat at your opponent when steroids make you a little spastic (enjoy prison, Clemens!) or making noises when the other team is trying to catch a pop-up (I’m looking at you again, A-Rod.) Those are about a lack of respect.
So should the Marlins care that Morgan does something stupid that hurts his team’s chances of victory? I’ve seen it written elsewhere that they should just be happy he’s acting like an idiot, but that’s looking at the situation in a vacuum. They had just inflicted fair punishment for his crime against their teammate, and his decision to steal not one but two bases was akin to potential parolee showing no remorse. It’s just asking for trouble.
Morgan didn’t steal those bases to help his team win the game. He stole those bases to show the Marlins he was a tough guy, that he wouldn’t back down. He was flouting the rules (again), making himself the center of attention (again), and essentially telling the game of baseball to go screw itself (again).
So the Marlins threw at him (again). And then beat him up. Bravo.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading.
it’s funny that you wrote this today, because i got caught up on this whole situation before coming into work and was even considering writing a column about it before realizing that nobody here cares. however, i agree with you to a degree and completely disagree with you in much of your conclusion.
the play against the cardinals was truly dumb. i don’t know what his thought process was there, but he was being an idiot and riggleman was correct in his analysis.
the play at the plate against the marlins was different. it was perhaps dumb in that sliding would have been the better chance to score, but coming down the line and not knowing for certain where the throw is, i can’t totally blame him for gearing up to ram the catcher and then not being able to change his course in his final approach. the fact that he busted the catcher’s shoulder is unfortunate and if they felt the need to retaliate, alright. i don’t necessarily think it was totally justified to throw at him the first time, but he didn’t take issue with it and trotted to first.
the part that bothers me is the marlins taking issue with him then stealing two bases. ya know what? you put this guy on the basepaths. one of his only true weapons as a baseball player is running. is it smart baseball to swipe a pair down 10 runs? no. but to be offended because a guy you intentionally put on base decides to run is like trying to punish someone by pulling their pants off and then being offended when they start rubbing their nuts.
i thought the second bean attempt was ridiculous and gaby sanchez blindsiding nyjer made me very disappointed. i was hoping he and volstad would have at least 5 seconds to go at each other one-on-one before the troops descended. the fact that any team with a 15-5 lead can take umbrage with somebody running on them kind of infuriates me. know what? throw the fucker out. are you openly admitting that you’re incapable of thwarting his steal attempts?
if they were down 15-5, of course it’s a completely different story. the marlins could throw at him 7 straight times and that would be just fine. but they were in complete control.
maybe nyjer was trying to send a message or be a “tough guy” with his two swipes. but if he was trying to show florida that he and his team aren’t a dugout full of pussies, then what’s wrong with that? it’s pretty emasculating to have a team crushing you on the scoreboard AND plunking you at the dish. we’ve seen some crazy baseball comebacks very recently, so what if that little spark had gotten the nats fired up and they started to put some runs on the board? that’s not allowed? if a fighter is crushing his opponent and standing over him after a knockdown, the guy on the canvas isn’t allowed to try to get up?
I think you’re looking at the Marlins incidents in a vacuum. You’re missing context.
Yes, sometimes it can be hard to change course when you’re running full speed down the line, but I think he saw the catcher reaching high for the throw and had an opportunity to slide or dive low. If that had occurred in a playoff game, any player would be criticized for not sliding. It was a bonehead play, just in baseball terms and not moral ones.
And the thing is, we know from prior experience that this guy in particular is prone to seeking out contact with catchers even if it’s a detriment to his team. That’s why I included the Cardinals incident in my post. Because it shows there’s a pattern here.
I didn’t include all “prior bad acts,” to borrow a legal term. I could have brought up him hitting a fan with a ball in between innings (and the pending suspension appeal), or him supposedly calling another fan a “fat bitch.” Those were somewhat irrelevant to the discussion and would only color him as a bad guy, which isn’t germane here.
But just three days before running over the Marlins catcher unnecessarily, he did a very similar thing against another team. Doesn’t that show you that maybe, just maybe, it might not have just been an inability to change course? At the very least, you can’t honestly treat this like it was any other player. MLB included the Cardinals incident in its rationale for suspending Morgan 8 games for the Marlins brawl. And I don’t think the Marlins were unaware of the Cardinals incident, either.
Also, I don’t think that Morgan stole those bases because he thought it was the best baseball decision. I’d love to see numbers on how many times Morgan has been on first base in a game where his team was down 5+ runs — probably a lot, the Nationals suck — and how many times he attempted to steal in those situations. How often do those situations arise across MLB, and how often are bases stolen? Just how stupid is this guy? But short of that, I’m going to have to just draw my own conclusions.
Imagine you’re a parent, and you send your kid to his room for an hour because he was playing ball in the house or wouldn’t eat his brussels sprouts or whatever. And then after an hour you call your kid out and say, “Now what did you learn?” and he says “It was great! I got to play video games and nobody made me do any homework for a whole hour!” Wouldn’t that make you question whether your message had gotten through?
Now when you handed down the punishment, you didn’t specify what your kid was allowed to do in his room, but your intention wasn’t that he would enjoy it. Same here. Riggleman said that nobody tells his team when they’re allowed to run, and of course that’s true. But Morgan went out of his way to show the Marlins that their punishment had not gotten through to him. It was deliberate.
So if you’re a parent who is trying to teach your kid a lesson, and it’s apparent that your first punishment attempt did not have the desired effect, you might enact further punishment, not because him playing video games in his room was wrong and independently worthy of punishment, but because the original infraction had still gone unpunished, the lesson still untaught. The Marlins threw at Morgan the second time not because he wasn’t allowed to steal second and third, but because him doing so made it clear to them that he didn’t understand that he’d been punished for the dirty hit on the catcher.
If it was a Mets player who had done what Morgan had done, I’d be embarrassed by it. And if it was a Mets player who did what Volstad or Gaby Sanchez had done, I’d be proud of them. I’m still pissed that Shawn Estes missed Clemens.
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[...] Taking Out the Catcher and Baseball's Unwritten Rules | By Michael … But rather than tag home plate as is usually the case in this sport, Morgan appeared to go out of his way to make contact with Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson, who was standing a step or two in front of the dish, toward the pitcher's mound. of the last decade was, in my opinion, was then-Marlin Pudge Rodriguez holding onto the ball like it was a flaming human heart in Temple of Doom after he tagged out the Giants' J.T. Snow to clinch the Division Series in [...]
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