When Gabe Kapler got hurt, this rule told teammates to stay away

It’s kind of rude, and definitely awkward.

Okay, so your teammate just hit a home run while you were on base. You’re trotting around the bases and … you get hurt. You can’t run anymore. What happens now? Well, a few rules come into play. One works in your favor, the other makes it so your teammate really shouldn’t try to come help you.

This is the scenario that befell the Boston Red Sox in 2005. Gabe Kapler was likely ecstatic when his teammate, Tony Graffanino, hit a home run. Typically, your buddy hits a home run and that’s the best case scenario for you – they did all the work, you can just trot on home, slap a few high-fives and get back to your sunflower seeds. But poor, sweet Gabe.

He did not trot. He put some hustle into his step, which proved to be his undoing. While this is a unfortunate tale for Gabe Kapler, it’s a lesson for the rest of us to learn — because the story doesn’t end there. Insult was added to this injury by way of the rulebook, and it’s pretty weird. Enjoy this episode of Weird Rules to learn the whole story, and then some.