By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman shooting off his mouth to disparage his opponent after making a nice play to close out Seattle’s win over the 49ers on Sunday. (Details at Deadspin.)
Shortly after the game, Justin Verlander tweeted this:
So Russell is a class act! Sherman on the other hand…. If he played baseball would get a high and tight fastball.
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) January 20, 2014
Why baseball is great: Players (at least some of them) keep each other accountable. No threat of impact, no taunting about imminent pain, just a suggestion to keep loose in the batter’s box—that happy feet might be in one’s future—is enough to get a guy thinking. As players frequently attest, anticipating a pitch like that is often worse than the pitch itself.
The Baseball Codes 
Thanks Jason and Justin Verlander for reminding us that there can be honor with excellence in sports. There is too much mouthy trash talking in baseball also, but at least pitchers have a way to remind other players that respect for your opponent is part of sport. Let’s hope umpires allow this internal correction to occur, and don’t continue to warn both benches when the baseball code needs to be enforced by players.