Most Sports Have

MOST SPORTS HAVE a vast rule book that governs the sport and covers tons of different situations. But baseball also has a bevy of unwritten rules. Seattle center fielder Mike Cameron showed his understanding of one of those rules in 2002.

The Seattle Mariners journeyed to Chicago for a series against the White Sox. In the top of the first, Cameron and Bret Boone earned a spot in baseball’s record book. During a ten-run Mariners outburst, the teammates twice blasted back-to-back home runs. But Cameron’s power display continued. He added a solo shot in the third inning and his fourth home run with two out in the fifth.

The fifth-inning homer tied the center fielder with 12 other major leaguers who had accomplished the feat of hitting four round-trippers in a single game. When they realized a record was within reach, a majority of the 12,891 folks in attendance switched their loyalties from the White Sox to Cameron and his quest for the home-run record. A chorus of boos reverberated through Comiskey Park in the seventh when pitcher Mike Porzio plunked the Seattle outfielder in the thigh.

One last opportunity awaited Cameron in the ninth. The count went to 3-0, and Porzio delivered a belt-high fastball that the 2001 Gold Glover took for strike one. After fouling off a pitch, Cameron belted a drive to deep right center, but Jeff Liefer snared the ball with a running, backhanded catch at the warning track.

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POINT Why, some fans wondered, did Cameron not swing at the fat pitch down the middle on the 3-0 count? Baseball experts knew the reason. An unwritten rule says a player doesn’t swing at a 3-0 pitch during a blowout, and Seattle was winning 15–4. The unwritten rule gives the opposing pitcher a small break in a bad situation.

Sometimes we think of the Bible as a rule book. While God’s Word does contain rules like the Ten Commandments, it also provides principles, kind of like unwritten rules, such as treating others with kindness, fairness, friendliness, and mercy . . . to name just a few.

GOAL! Identify some other unwritten rules in baseball or another sport. If you get stuck, ask a coach or a friend. Now come up with two or three good unwritten rules for life.