The Code: Lost in Translation

I just finished reading this book, The Code: Baseball's Unwritten Rules and Its Ignore-at-Your-Own-Risk Code of Conduct, by Ross Bernstein. I wanted to read this book from the first moment I heard of it. But, as I said, I just finished reading it, but I didn't actually finish the book. When it came right down to it, there are only so many ways you can say, "If they throw at our guys, we throw at theirs." Turns out, Mosaic Law still rules in Baseball.

There are all sorts of things baseball's "code" dictates. Unlike the Code of the Order of the Brethen, which according to Cap't. Barbosa, "is more of what you call guidelines than actual rules," baseball players adhere to and live by their code. So, with that in mind, here's a list of what will earn you (or someone on your team, if you're a pitcher) a free pass to first base and the mark to prove it.

1. Bunting or stealing late in a blow-out.
2. Sliding too hard into Second Base to break up a double play.
3. Plunking your opposition's all-star with a fastball.
4. Attempting a bunt to break up a perfect game or no-hitter.
5. Stealing signs and passing them on to your hitter, tipping him off to what pitch is on its way.
   
6. Running up the score late in a blow-out.
7. Plowing through the opposing catcher in a play at the plate.
8. Celebrating excessively after a homerun.
9. Celebrating excessively after a strikeout.
10. Celebrating excessively after anything.

So there you have it. Basically, if you do anything that either harms or disrespects your opposition, you'd better be on your toes the next time you come to bat. But even if you're not thrown at in your next at bat, know that you are on someone's list, and sooner or later, you will be the object of retaliation.

With this in mind, did anyone see the game between USA and China in the Olympics?

NO?

I didn't think you did. Well, neither did I, but I did see some highlights. The first time I saw the highlights, there was no sound, so this is what I saw:

In a play at the plate, US player hits the Chinese catcher so hard that Ronnie Lott would have been proud. The two of them exchange glares and words (though it is unknown if they actually understood each other).

Later, a Chinese pitcher throws at US batter, hits him in the head, resulting in a concussion, sending him to the hospital for examination.

The last highlight was a Chinese player blasting a homerun to deep left field, and then holding his index finger high in the air and screaming the entire time he rounds the bases, then stomping on home plate. He meets his teammates in the dugout and they continue to celebrate like it's 1999 (though, to be honest, that whole Y2K thing really ruined the whole celebration, didn't it).

So I'm thinking, nice; way to go guys... Dole out the punishment and the smack only to give up a game-winning dinger to the lowly Chinese. But then (remember, no sound the whole time), I saw the final score: USA 9, China 1, at which point I thought, hmm, that was a lot of celebration for just ruining a shut-out.

At any rate, the game got ugly. I tried to find the highlights on YouTube, but all I could find were the NBC highlights. But, here's the point: Maybe the code hasn't been translated into Chinese yet (I'm looking to you to get on that, Nate), because in that book I mentioned, the only thing said more than "if they hit us, we hit them," was "no matter what, you don't throw at a guy's head." The general consensus, and rightly so, is that you could seriously hurt someone and take away their livelihood by head-hunting. Oh well. I guess it makes for some entertaining baseball.