Unwritten rules are not meant to be broken.(baseball)(Brief Article)

Unwritten rules are almost as important as written rules, especially today. The problem is when there are no older players to teach the young guys the unwritten rules. It's not like you can read unwritten rules on the bathroom wall of Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park.

These unwritten rules most often come into play when a game is a one-sided.

When you are blowing someone out, you don't want to embarrass them. You just want to get the game over and get ready for the next day. And believe me, if you're getting blown out, you want it over even faster.

In today's game, the "no stealing when you're up five or six runs" rule is pretty much out the window, especially in the A.L. Still, when you are comfortably ahead, it is not good to try to steal bases to pad stats or rub it in the opponent's face.

The unwritten rules don't tell you to stop trying; they tell you don't overdo it. If you hit a ball that easily will be good for a double, you don't stop at first. But you don't stretch it into a triple, either. I can remember this year a team was mashing another, and a hitter was having a great game. He needed a triple for the cycle. He came up in the eighth and hit a gapper, but he stopped at second. He played the game right. He put the team and the game ahead of his own stats.

Another unwritten rule frowns on swinging at a pitch when the count is 3-0 in a blowout. This is a tough rule, in my opinion, because if the hitter pops it up, nobody complains that he broke a rule. This is where young guys look to older players for help.

I've never had a problem with this one, because if the hitter swings and pops it up, I'll take it. But you have to determine intent, which is hard.