Please help me with this baseball tradition
 

I was reading The Sports Guy today (LINK) and he wrote the following little blurb:

That was all he said about it. I never heard of this, but think it would be really cool if it were true. Baseball has a lot of cool things like throwing back visiting team's home runs and not stepping on the foul lines between innings. I was wondering if anyone can give me some background on the Rookie thing. When did it start and any thing you can find online would be great. I pride myself on my ability to find things online and I am SOL. PLEASE help! This is driving me crazy.

I think that pretty much sums it up. It's an unwritten rule of baseball. They'll give a rookie the ball for this first hit, but when he hits a homer, they just go "yeah whatever"

I think it just goes along with the hazing of rookies in everything (not just sports).

I agree with everybody else. It's like 'Hey Rook, that's what you're here for.' 'This is the bigs, we don't jump up and down like Little Leaguers here.'

Personally, I like the "no talking to the pitcher during a no hitter/perfect game" tradition.

exactly... its all relative

There's an article here which chronicles what happens during a perfect game. Frankly, it cracks me up that these guys, these GROWN MEN, will stay in one position for hours upon end just to not jinx a perfect game....Or repeat the same motion, like tapping on a bat every time the pitcher winds up. Or chastise themselves for even thinking about it. Or get mad at the guy who got up and changed his seat.

Frankly, I think it's cool that the Braves fans were cheering for the opposing team starting as early as the 6-7th inning.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diam...amain0521.html

I dont necessarily think its a "tradition" i think its more of a pratical joke than anything. Its like "oh you hit a homerun, I must have missed it..." kinda thing. Ive seen instances where it happens and others where it didnt. Dont look too deep into it, just htink of it as a joke.

The red sox did this last week to their rookie who hit his first major league home run. ESPN replayed the hell out of it.

Check anthropology "Tribal Initiation Rites." Typical to tease the new kid, make him earn some respect, keep his ego in check, respect the veterans, etc.
We do it at work, on teh playground. The new guy sweeps up, empties the trash, does the grunt work with little or no recognition.