What is up with that?
It is indeed a slippery slope
when you no longer care what the runner does.
It is a short step to hell to refuse to try and nab him,
even if the score is decidedly in your favor.
What if other professions were equally indifferent?
the doctor who does not stitch properly
because the operation is too easy,
the teacher who does not adequately prepare
because the students are too smart,
the prosecutor who does not try his case
because the man before the bar is patently guilty.
the builder who installs shoddy materials
because he can get away with it.
No, no, baseball provides our moral code.
There are universal truths and time-honored regulations,
laws, if you will, that are to be followed.
If we don’t do what we are supposed to do,
chaos is loosed, and anarchy ensues.
Therefore, we can’t possibly have indifference,
defensive or otherwise, in baseball or in life.
THE POETRY OF THE GAME