Whole new ballgame: A’s, Giants try to kick habits
A’s pitcher Liam Hendriks and Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford play different positions for different teams but share a baseball custom. They are fingerlickers. “Licking your fingers is something I think you just do naturally to get a little grip for the ball,” Crawford said. “That’s something I’ve done as a baseball player for years — as kind of a nasty habit as that is.”
Every time Hendriks picks up a baseball, he said, “My first initial thing is going to the mouth.”
“So I’ve been training myself kind of like you’d train a dog a little bit — pick your ball up, then refraining from going to my mouth,” Hendriks said, “and then usually I get a treat
New way: Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija’s offer of a fist bump on Sunday was greeted with an elbow. Highfiving is on the list of banned actions.
after that.”
Fingerlicking, a reflex the sport over, is suddenly forbidden in Major League Baseball in 2020 under protocols aimed at guarding against the coronavirus. Spitting is expressly prohibited. Highfives and fistbumps are outlawed, and wiping away sweat from the face is discouraged.
The guidelines are meant to make the game safer — some might add “cleaner” — and make a season feasible amid a pandemic. For many players and coaches, they will require the unlearning of habits ingrained in baseball culture and developed over years of being around the sport.
As might be expected, that includes expectoration. Spitting is out — along with use of sunflower seeds and smokeless tobacco. Chewing gum will be permitted.
MLB’s manual regarding the new rules and regulations fills 100 pages. But — aside from the tobeexpected ejections for anyone who gets within 6 feet of an umpire to argue a call — nowhere in the manual is it spelled out what will happen to someone who spits or a pitcher who licks his fingers.
“I spit a lot,” A’s catcher Sean Murphy said. “So there’s that. Highfives and other stuff like that, everybody’s kind of used to doing that, so we’ve got to figure out something else. But I feel like everybody’s going to have to be on their best behavior and kind of reform some habits.”
Crawford said after the Giants’ first training camp workout last week that the topic of spitting had already come up in conversation.
“After we were running it was something me, (Evan Longoria) and (Brandon) Belt were talking about — how we all kind of wanted to but we had to hold it back,” Crawford said. “We’re going to have to get used to that.”
For pitchers, who may be used to rubbing a new baseball with spit or sweat, the new rules offer a compromise. Pitchers will be able to carry a wet rag in their back pocket for moisture. Only water will be allowed on the rag, and umpires will have the right to check the rag. Still, Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija said, even that will require a shift in thinking.
“It’s so out of ritual to go to something in your pocket because it feels like you’re doing something illegal,” Samardzija said. “You’ve been taught for so long not to do that. And all of a sudden now you’re going to be able to do it.
“Water doesn’t really help, anyway.”
A’s starter Frankie Montas said he’s “always licking my fingers” and has already caught himself in the act a few times in camp.
That’s “one of the rules that I’m really, like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this,’ ” Montas said. “You’ve got to get used to it. It’s going to be weird at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll be fine.”
Hendriks said in lieu of licking his fingers, he has been working on bringing his hand to his neck or hair before gripping the ball. A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson echoed skepticism about the wet rag, saying: “The question is, can you put hand sanitizer on your hands?”
“That and spitting — someone is going to spit and do it without thinking about it,” Emerson said. “I get why they’re doing it, but allow for mistakes. It’s probably going to happen unconsciously.”
Not all the adjustments will involve saliva. Baseball players are notoriously routineoriented, and some routines will have to change. Players will not be allowed to arrive at stadiums this season more than five hours before games and will have to leave within 90 minutes of the end, cutting down time often spent on individual work, working out or socializing with teammates.
A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt said one habit he has consciously tried to avoid is “standing around and chitchatting with friends and debating the world.”
“Those times are kind of gone right now,” Bassitt said. “Hanging around the clubhouse or the weight room and stuff like that, that’s no more. It’s kind of a get in, get your stuff done and then leave as soon as possible kind of thing. That’s kind of hard.”
In the past, the A’s clubhouse several hours before games would have a communal feel. Players sat on couches watching TV or playing video games or at tables playing cards before heading to the batting cages or field. After games, players would eat at closeset tables, with music playing loudly after wins and in silence after losses.
This summer, the A’s clubhouse has moved to the more spacious former Raiders locker room to allow for physical distancing between lockers and players. Teams are encouraged to limit players’ time in the clubhouse and other indoor areas. Group dining is discouraged, and anyone eating together should be spread out, per MLB’s guidelines.
A’s third baseman Matt Chapman said he’s used to showing up to the stadium early “to not feel rushed.” Time and occupancy restrictions at team facilities now won’t allow so much freedom.
“The biggest thing is adjusting your routine and finding out the most important thing you need to do for that day to get ready,” Chapman said. “Sometimes you throw a bunch of things out there and see what sticks. But now you have to be a little more diligent because you don’t have as much time.”
Chapman said he’ll try to compensate by doing some pregame work at home — like stretches and warmup exercises — before arriving at the stadium, where he will “maybe ride the bike, stretch real quick, but then hop right into the cage so I’m not spending too much time in one spot.”
“I think it’ll be a little different when we start getting into games and guys maybe aren’t playing cards or there’s not as much social stuff going on,” Chapman said. “That is a little weird. But we’re finding ways to make it work, and we’re going to still have fun with it because that’s why we’re here and we’re all excited to get baseball back, for a number of reasons.”
Samardzija, the Giants pitcher, said the new guidelines will “definitely be a factor for guys.” But baseball, he said, is “always evolving, and this is just another aspect where you need to adjust.”
“That’s going to be part of this next month is figuring out how you can get rid of some of those habits and just make the game safer for everyone,” Samardzija said. “We’re not doing it for any other reason than just to keep everybody safe out there. And I think when you look at it that way, it makes it a little easier to fix some things.”