Baseball Etiquette: Don’t cut across the pitcher’s mound mid-inning

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez drew the ire of A’s pitcher Dallas Braden this past week for a breach of baseball etiquette.

What happened?

Rodriguez cut across the mound and stepped on the rubber as he returned to first base after a foul ball during the sixth inning of the Yankees’ game at Oakland. Braden was incensed and followed A-Rod off the field at the end of the inning.

Opinions of the incident are mixed. From the Sun News:

Angels pitcher Scott Kazmir told reporters A-Rod chose an atypical path back to first but that he likely would have let it go.

“It’s kind of weird that he would go up the hill like that, but I probably wouldn’t have made that big a deal about it,” Kazmir said, according to ESPNLosAngeles.

Others disagreed.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, as old school as managers come, told AOLFanhouse that “a lot of guys” in the game don’t know about the stay-off-the-mound code and was in Braden’s corner.

“He’s been taught right,” La Russa said, according to Fanhouse.

Former catcher and FOX analyst Tim McCarver recalled Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, a legendary intimidator, and his viewpoint on hitters coming near the mound, which Gibson called his “office.”

“You never come into my office unless you’re invited,” McCarver said. “And you’ll never be invited.”

Related: See our selection of MLB gear at the fan shop.

Counting down baseball’s top curses

Halloween is this weekend, which means there will be plenty of hexes and curses floating around.

Here are few of our favorites from the baseball world:

5. The Curse of A-Rod (Mariners, Rangers, Yankees)

We’re throwing this one in because it is current.

Since becoming a professional baseball player in 1995, Alex Rodriguez has established himself as one of the game’s best. Rodriguez has been on seven playoff teams, but he’s traditionally been awful in October.

Rodriguez just won a pennant for the first time this year.

Will he help lead the Yankees to a World Series victory? We’ll have to see. Game 3 is Saturday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

4. The Curse of Rocky Colavito (Indians)

The year was 1960 when the Cleveland Indians traded Colavito — their most-popular player — for a washed-up Harvey Kuehn.

Cleveland couldn’t get close to a playoff spot during the next 30 years. The Indians lost the 1995 World Series and the ’97 ALCS.

So the curse lives on…

3. The Curse of the Black Sox (White Sox)

In the pockets of gamblers, the Chicago White Sox tainted baseball during the 1919 World Series when they purposely lost the series.

Eight players were permanently banished from baseball, and the office of the league’s commissioner was opened as a result.

Chicago broke the curse in 2005 with a World Series victory over the Houston Astros.

2. The Curse of the Bambino (Red Sox)

Perhaps the most well-known of all sports curses, hexes and voodoo, the Curse of the Bambino was born when the cash-strapped Boston Red Sox traded baseball legend Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 loan.

In the 83 years following the trade, the Yankees went on to win 26 titles. The Red Sox won zero.

Boston broke the curse in 2004. They rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the hated Yankees in the ALCS, and then they swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

1. The Curse of the Billy Goat (Cubs)

It was 1945, the Cubs were playing in the World Series and tavern owner Billy Sianis wanted to bring in his billy goat to watch a game.

Unfortunately, Sianis’ goat was stinky. The odor was bothering other fans, and workers at Wrigley Field asked Sianis to leave.

Outraged, Sianis proclaimed: “Them Cubs, they aren’t gonna win no more.”

So far, he’s been right. The Cubs lost the series, and they haven’t been back ever since.