More on Rules Worship

This is an excerpt from Bill James’s Historical Baseball Abstract. It is the best way I can think of to illustrate the idiocy of rules-worship that I have blogged about before.

[In 1940, American League rules] required that a pitcher pitch ten complete games in order to qualify for the league ERA title. Bob Feller, clearly the league’s best pitcher, went 27-11 with a 2.61 ERA. But another rookie, Tiny Bonham, was called up in early August, made twelve starts between August 5 and the end of the season – and completed ten of them, with a 1.90 ERA.

Bonham…was technically qualified for the league title, but the American League did [what they had done in years prior]: they ignored the rule, and did what common sense told them was right. They recognized Bob Feller as the league ERA leader…

If this happened now, of course, the league would say, “Well, it may not seem right, but that’s the rule, we have to do what the rule says.”…

This change is reflective of a change in our culture, a change which has been called the death of common sense….Up until 1930, the attitude of lawmen toward the law can be summarized as:

1.) The purpose of the law is to deliver justice.
2.) The law must accommodate the effort to deliver justice.
3.) If you miss a step of the dance, that’s not important so long as the system delivers justice.

In baseball, there’s been a shift from:

1.) The purpose of the rules is to recognize the best players.
2.) The recognition should go to the best players.
3.) Recognize the best players, whether this accommodates the rules or not.

To this:

1.) The rules must be written to identify the best players, but
2.) You have to follow the rules, regardless of whether they work or whether they don’t.

(The New Historical Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, pp 154-5)

The point? We have completely forgotten the purpose of rules, that they are our servants and never the other way around.

I bring this up because last week, Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns was banned for one game in the Suns’ playoff series. Stoudemire left Phoenix’s bench during an on-the-court fight, though he remained uninvolved in the fight. According to the letter of the law, he is guilty and he owes a one game punishment. Here’s the problem, though:

1.) It’s a stupid rule.
2.) Even if it weren’t a stupid rule, rules still need to have smart enough people to avoid enforcing stupid rules.
3.) The NBA is not run by people smart enough to understand that rule-enforcement is measured by effectiveness of achieving a harmonious end, and NOT adherence to historical precedent.

“This is a very unfortunate circumstance,” [David Stern’s enforcement guy] said during a conference call. “No one here at the league office wants to suspend players any game, much less a pivotal game in the second round of a playoff series.”

Ok, so don’t.

He continues, “but the rule, however, is the rule, and we intend to apply it consistently.”

Unbelievable.

Read more here.