Mike Krukow hasn’t donned an MLB uniform for quite some time, but he still knows the game of baseball is changing.
The sport’s “unwritten rules” became a topic of conversation Tuesday night during the Giants’ 13-2 win over the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park, when Austin Slater stole a base and Mauricio Dubon bunted for a single, both with a nine-run lead.
Manager Gabe Kapler has since fervently defended both plays with a long-game approach explanation. Padres manager Bob Melvin and the rest of his dugout, on the other hand, were visibly perturbed by the Giants’ actions during the game.
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Ahead of Wednesday’s rubber match between the two teams, the Giants’ longtime broadcaster weighed in on the controversy and if the unwritten rules still apply.
“It is an old school, new school [discussion],” Krukow told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Laura Britt and George Kontos during “Giants Pregame Live.” “We played 40 years ago in the 70s, in the 80s. The game was played differently -- the rules, the unwritten rules. The way you played the game, how you respected your opponent was completely different.
“If you go back 40 years from when we played in 1930, how much different was that game from what we played in the 70s, in the 80s? Night and day."
Rule changes in recent years have shown that baseball is constantly evolving, from extra-inning baserunners to instant replay. And while robot umpires haven’t arrived (yet), one rule change for the 2022 season indicates that some unwritten rules might be outdated.
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The new collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLBPA eliminated the Game 163 tiebreaker, and now a mathematical formula -- which includes run differential -- will be used to break end-of-season ties. Scoring matters, no matter how big a team’s lead is.
Those are just a few ways the game has changed, and Krukow went on to list other ways the league has progressed since its inception.
“[MLB] was all white. They wore no helmets. They had an eight-team league. They didn’t travel by plane,” Krukow said. “So rules that were part of their culture really were not relevant in our era … We’re all part of the era of the one we played in. So we still respect those [unwritten] rules, but today’s game has moved on. And what was an issue back 40 years ago no longer is an issue.”
Former Giant Will Clark had a similar reaction to the saga when speaking with KNBR's Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey on Wednesday morning, noting that baseball today is a "different world" than when he played in the 80s and 90s.
"As long as people like me are in the game, somebody is gonna get hit,” Clark said on the "Murph and Mac" show. "Bob Melvin and Matt Williams were teammates of mine. We were taught a different way to deal with something like that. I’m just telling you that that right there in baseball terms back when we were playing was a big, huge no-no.
"... Back in the day if somebody did ignore that rule, they got drilled. We even talked about it. I understand where Gabe’s coming from in supporting his player, and he flat out came out and said, ‘This is what we’re trying to do and if it happens to us we completely understand.’ He has set the rules out there. Now, he’s going to have to live with it moving forward.”
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Despite the initial reaction to Dubon’s bunt and Slater’s steal, Krukow doesn’t anticipate retaliation from the Padres.
“I’d be really surprised,” Krukow told Britt and Kontos. “I don’t think so. I just think that … the Padres didn’t like it, and they’re going to use that to motivate themselves. But beyond that, I think the issue is over.”