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 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 (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it’s actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field.
 
With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.

JASON TURBOW’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated.com, Slam Magazine, Popular Science, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and he is a regular contributor to Giants Magazine and A’s Magazine. He lives in the Bay Area.

MICHAEL DUCA was the first chairman of the board of Bill James’s Project Scoresheet and has written for Sports-Ticker, Giants Today in the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Associated Press. He works in the office of the commissioner as an official scorer, and for mlb.com. He lives in the Bay Area.