I recently finished a baseball book called “The Baseball Codes” written by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca. This is not a new book, it was published back in 2011 and I ran across it at a book sale that I attend on a regular basis put on by a group called Friends of the Library of Hennepin County in Plymouth, Minnesota. Anyway, I ran across this hardcover book and bought it for the price of one dollar.
This book should not be confused with a book called “The Code” written by Ross Bernstein back in 2008 that covers the same subject matter that I also have in my library. Oddly enough, “The Code” has an image on the cover of Nolan Ryan fighting with Robin Ventura and the book that I wanted to bring to your attention “The Baseball Codes” starts out by the author saying in his introduction that his most memorable moment of the 1993 season was the Ryan/Ventura fight. A strange coincidence.
Anway, “The Baseball Codes” is a relatively short 294 pages devoted to as the cover states, beanballs, sign stealing and bench-clearing brawls: the unwritten rules of America’s pastime. In this book players from the past share their thoughts and stories about the unwritten rules of baseball that players choose to either follow or ignore, failure to follow these unwritten rules could cost you or your teammate a fastball to the ribs or even worse, a ball to the head.
The code in baseball can’t be found anywhere, it just exists in the memories and minds of yesterday’s ball players and today’s ball players are expected to follow the code in order to show respect for the game. There are no classes and no books a ballplayer can read to learn the code, you are just expected to pick them up by experience and by learning to listen to the veterans that are still in the game.
The baseball code can be difficult at times because the game of baseball itself has changed and evolved over the years, the game itself changes slowly, the codes change even slower. What may have made sense 20 or 30 years ago might not apply today but the code is still there. Another thing about the code that makes it difficult to understand is that it is open to interpretation, depending on the situation that you find yourself in. Each case and circumstance is different and as a player you are expected to make a split second decision that can make you either a hero or a goat that can embarrass you, your team or the opponents, sometimes even the umpires.
The book is broken down into four sections, on the field, retaliation, cheating and teammates. It is a fun book that is easy to read and if you are an old-timer like myself you will certainly remember many of the actual examples that are cited in this book as you might have either seen them or read about them when they actually took place.
This web site primarily covers Minnesota Twins baseball history and a number of former Twins such as Don Baylor, Bert Blyleven, Mike Cubbage, Torii Hunter, Chuck Knoblauch, Billy Martin, Doug Mientkiewicz, Al Worthington and many others are mentioned in the book.
Baseball is a great game with written rules and unwritten rules and codes and the beauty of it is that they both change over time but sometimes the players and fans are still stuck in the past. A recipe for trouble.
So if you are looking for a good and fun baseball book to read that will help you to maybe better understand the baseball code that baseball announces frequently allude to and bring back some great memories and moments of baseball games long since played, you might want to find a copy of this book. I think once you start to read it you will find it hard to put down. You might be able to find this book at your local library or you can buy a used copy rather inexpensively on Amazon.
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