Batter Knocks Catcher with a Wicked Backswing – Two Swings Later, Vengeful Pitcher Dishes Out the Pain

Your mileage on this story will solely depend on where you stand on the “unwritten rules” of America’s pastime.

For those unfamiliar with these “unwritten rules” of baseball, there’s no real set definition to them (hence, why they’re “unwritten”).

Using broad strokes, these unwritten rules effectively amount to some sort of code of honor or sportsmanship. Breaking the honorific protocol means that the offending player is fair game for retaliation — oftentimes in the form of a 100-mile-an-hour fastball to the rib cage.

It’s a contentious debate (there are ample supporters on both sides of the issue), and it was dredged up anew after a bizarre sequence of events saw a bloodied catcher and his teammate seemingly retaliating on his behalf.

The incident in question happened Thursday, in a tilt between the home team St. Louis Cardinals and the visiting Chicago Cubs.

In the first inning of that game, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ took to the plate against Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas. Happ swung and missed, normally a positive for the pitching team, given that Mikolas was behind in the pitch count at the time.

For Cards catcher Wilson Contreras, it was anything but positive, as he took a nasty hit to the head when Happ’s backswing clipped him (most of the protective meshing on a catcher’s mask protects the face, not the back of the head).

It seemed like an honest mistake and one that even Contreras acknowledged (the two seemingly made peace, or at least acknowledged each other with a hug, as the catcher was going to get looked at by medical officials) in the moment.