The baseball codes : [beanballs, sign stealing, and bench-clearing brawls : the unwritten rules of America's pastime

Everyone knows that baseball is a game of complicated rules, but it turns out to be even more complex than we realize. Jason Turbow and Michael Duca take us behind the scenes of the great American pastime. Players talk about the game as they never have before, breaking the code of secrecy that surrounds so much of baseball, both on the field and in the clubhouse. We learn why pitchers sometimes do retaliate when one of their teammates is hit by a pitch and other times let it go. We hear about the subtle forms of payback that occur when a player violates the rules out of ignorance instead of disrespect. We find out why cheating is acceptable (but getting caught at cheating is not), and how off-field tensions can get worked out on the diamond. These tacit rules are illuminated with often incredible stories about everyone from national heroes true eccentrics.--From publisher description.

Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. What truly governs the Major League game is a set of unwritten rules, some of which are openly discussed (don't steal a base with a big lead late in the game), and some of which only a minority of players are even aware of (don't cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter's box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game's most hallowed, and least known, traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining.

At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes, like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, and notorious headhunters...

The New York Times - Bruce Weber

For true baseball-niks, the discussions of these issues won't be especially enlightening. With so many former athletes now in the broadcast booth, the unwritten rules of the game get a pretty regular airing…But the stories the authors have unearthed to illustrate ballpark justice and morality are often delicious.