The Utley play was specifically ruled not a neighborhood play as it was the throw that pulled him off the base and not the runner.
Yes, I’m aware of that and I thought it was a BS ruling. Actually, I think it’s a BS rule. You can review if the fielder is drawn off the bag but not if it’s a neighborhood play. Due to the protection of the neighborhood rule the second baseman might feed the SS a throw that takes him away from the incoming runner. I hate that it’s a reviewable play.
It may have to do with nature of the game. In most other team sports, each team has the same number of players on the field, in physical contact for most of the time. The players have plenty of time to hit each other and the handshake lines (especially in hockey) are a good way to dissipate that potential animosity.
Baseball is mostly 1 against 9 and doesn’t have a lot of direct physical contact.
I wondered that myself. Seemed like bad sportsmanship.
But there is this rule:
Once again, tradition. Sportsmanship isn’t that big a thing in baseball on the field itself. There is the nature of the game though, there’s not a lot of one on one interaction, if anything the batters would all pass by the pitchers for a hand slap, otherwise there’s not that much interaction between the rest of the players. Unlike games where the players may have a series of interactions with each other a baseball game hinges on a few key plays, and one guy comes out looking great and the other had to slink back to the dugout. And then on top of that in baseball most of the time these guys are just going to play each other again tomorrow or even again that day. So IMHO it’s tradition, and sportsmanship isn’t a big part of baseball tradition.
ETA: I see the rule cited above, yet players do fraternize on the field. A baseman and a runner may talk to each other, though often it’s an attempt to distract one or the other or both.
The fraternization rule has been discussed here before.
One poster back in 2000 hypothesized the “rule was probably put on the books to keep gamblers away from players (the part about not talking to people in the stands) and to give people the idea that the players weren’t conspiring to throw the game.” I would have thought there would be less emphasis on this now and more willingness to encourage friendly relations between teams, but evidently I’m wrong. In 2011, Joe Torre made it a priority to enforce the anti-fraternization rule.
As I mentioned in one of those other threads, after Torre said he wanted to enforce the fraternization rule the rest of MLB collectively said, “nah.” The rule was then under consideration to be eliminated, but I believe it is, for whatever reason, still on the books.
I don’t know if the rule started before or after the BlackSox scandal, but there is something different about baseball where some think it’s prone to collusion between opposing players.
While this is all perfectly reasonable rationalization, in youth baseball post-game handshakes are common/mandatory.
Kids that age are still learning sportsmanship.
I remember hearing several old color announcers comment on players having a quick chuckle on first base with the opposing fielder after a hit. It was something that was not done in the past. Even if you used to be on the same team and are best friends. I just think that players were rougher and where much more attached to a specific team. Ty Cobb would probably shoot you if he saw you talking to the other team. Bob Gibson would probably bean you during batting practice. I think more than anything free agency changed the attitude. Still no after game handshake but there is generally a friendlier attitude between teams.
Is thisfraternization with fans?
Players fraternize with fans all the time. They sign autographs before games. Some outfielders like to talk to fans. I remember when Dave Henderson was with the A’s, he had a set of hand signals worked out with the fans in the center field bleachers to tell them which bar he was going to after the game.
It is a superstition but there’s also a practical reason for it. The groundskeepers get pissed if anyone messes up the lines before the game starts. Perhaps the groundskeepers started the superstition.
But then the very first batter scrapes the batter’s box lines away. Might as well not bother.
Sounds more like a “break your mother’s back” kind of thing. Players don’t care that much about groundskeepers, especially the visiting team.
I’m from Aus, so please explain to me this:
Why is stealing signs such a bad thing? The pitcher and catcher are trying to trick you - they are not going to tell you where the ball is going. Why can’t I steal the sign? And why is the runner at 2nd allowed to do it - just not the batter?
Why was it such a big thing that the 1951 NY Giants were found to have stolen signs 60 years ago? Gee whizz, if you are worried about the batters stealing the sign, make some new codes.
Does the same apply to opposition managers and base coaches doing their silly ‘touch arm, touch ear, touch cap, rub chest, swing away’ codes? If by chance you work out what they are, are you allowed to tell your teammates?
Stealing signs on the field, just by looking, is one thing. It’s using off-field observers and technological assistance that is thought very low.
It’s not just that. It’s considered bad sportsmanship for a batter to look back at the catcher to try to figure out what the next pitch will be.
I think Wallaby has a point. Some of the unwritten rules seem inconsistent and arbitrary.