San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Kapler’s right to toss unwritten rules
OK, I’ve had time to think about it. Soak it all in. Process it. And I have no counterargument to Gabe Kapler.
When I sat in the Oracle Park interview room Tuesday asking the Giants’ manager questions about his team breaking unwritten rules, I fully expected the conventional answers such as “I spoke with Mauricio about bunting in that situation, and he now knows not to do that.”
But no. Kapler is anything but conventional. I’ve covered 14 managers on a regular basis since the mid-1980s — several of whom are in the Hall of Fame or will be or should be — and Kapler is the only one who would have answered my questions the way he did.
“Do you think you guys broke the unwritten rules with Steven Duggar stealing in the second inning and Mauricio Dubón bunting in the sixth?”
“I fully support both of those decisions. … Our goal is not exclusively to win one game in a series, it’s to try to win the entire series. Sometimes that means trying to get a little bit deeper into the opposition’s ’pen.”
Comments from Kapler and his players signified the Giants were united in disregarding unwritten rules that have been part of the game for as long as anyone alive can remember.
You’re up big, don’t steal. Don’t bunt. Don’t show up the opposition. Don’t rub it in. Don’t run up the score.
I’ve just written a rule that’s unwritten, and how goofy is that?
Shutting down the running game and ditching bunting when the score is lopsided in your favor has been a thing because that’s traditionally how players wanted it. Fans and media don’t know what it’s like to compete in a baseball game at the highest level, so we took the players’ word for it all these years.
But now, do young players even know these unwritten rules any more after so many of the other unwritten rules have been tossed aside?
Don’t stand at the plate and watch the ball clear the fence.
Don’t flip your bat. Don’t showboat around the bases. Don’t excessively celebrate after you lined a single or struck out a batter or made a running catch. Because the next time you’re at the plate, you’ll get one right in the ribs.
Yeah, right.
Those unwritten rules are already history, which is a good thing. So why should we keep some and not others? It’s finally time to lose them all. I’ve tried to come up with reasons why Kapler was wrong with his statements on unwritten rules, and I’ve struck out.
“You spoke with Mauricio when he came off the field. What did you say?”
“I said, ‘Great job. Way to try to get a base hit.’ ”
“You didn’t condemn him for what he did?”
“Absolutely not. Full 100% support. The pitchers are trying to get Mauricio out. Mauricio is trying to get on base. The goal of baseball is to not make an out.”
Kapler was both groundbreaking and courageous to challenge a sacred part of the game, and most of the industry along with responses via email and Twitter support his stance because most everyone knows it’s time to change with the times.
If players are willing to ignore unwritten rules, then executives, managers, coaches, fans and the media should, too. Even Major League Baseball has been on board through its “Let the Kids Play” marketing campaign a few years ago, which spit at unwritten rules and featured players basically being themselves and showing joyful exuberance
It’s an international game now. There’s no right or wrong way to perform anymore. It’s played with different styles in different countries and continents, and when coming together on one diamond, the differences
should be welcomed.
“You played the game a long time and were in many heated moments including in postseason play, and you know how it is when players get upset at the other team for doing certain things. What you’re saying tonight goes against tradition. Have you always felt that way as a player or did your feeling on this evolve over time?
“Taking myself out of it, I don’t know a pitcher who stands on the mound who doesn’t try to get the hitter out, and I don’t know a catcher in the game who if he has a chance to throw a runner out at second base, just decides to not throw a runner out at second base. I can’t think of a reason why it doesn’t make sense to continue to try to compete all the way through the game.”
Fans pay top dollar to see nine competitive innings. Not two. Technically, if the Giants shut it down after scoring 10 runs in the first two innings, they’d be cheating those who
came to the ballpark and were watching on TV.
Kapler repeatedly talks about gaining any edge possible, which explains all the moving parts on his roster and the many strategies he employs. And stealing a base and putting down a bunt are ways to put the opposition at a further disadvantage, which could provide more of an edge the next day and a better chance to win a series.
An element of machismo remains strong in the game, but wasn’t it grand that on the day Kapler broke the unwriten-rule barrier, Alyssa Nakken broke her own by becoming the first female on-field coach in MLB history? That unwritten rule that women shouldn’t be big-league coaches? Nakken changed history. Shouldn’t be on-field coaches? Nakken took down that one, too.
Showdowns involving unwritten rules such as Madison
Bumgarner versus Max Muncy (“Get it out of the ocean”) and Dallas Braden versus Alex Rodriguez (“Get off my mound”) still could surface in the emotion of the moment, but with in-game strategies such as stealing and bunting, it’s time to ditch the unwritten rules and stop suppressing the players, with all due respect to baseball’s old guard that prefers to honor the game by adhering to the code.
Kapler’s declaration might be just the beginning. What will be next?
Bunting in the ninth inning of a no-hitter? Talking about a no-hitter in progress? Swinging on 3-0 with a big lead? Allowing the pitcher to catch a pop-up? Crying in baseball?
Bring it on.