Alex Rodriguez drew the ire of Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden Thursday when he violated what some consider one of baseball's unwritten rules.
With one out in the sixth inning, Rodriguez ran from first base to third on a fly ball that ultimately landed foul. Instead of retracing his path back to first base, A-Rod jogged directly from third to first, walking over the pitcher's mound in the process. To some baseball players and observers, such an action is blasphemous.
Jason Turbow, co-author of The Baseball Codes, says that Rodriguez is "profoundly ignorant of much of the Code, or a guy who actively disdains it."
Braden, who exploded in anger at the end of the inning, blasted Rodriguez after the game. "He should probably take a note from his captain over there and realize you don't cross the pitcher's mound in between an inning or during the game. I was just dumbfounded that he would let that slip his mind -- being someone of such status," he said.
A-Rod, meanwhile, sounded relatively nonplussed. "I've never heard of that in my career. I still don't know. I thought it was pretty funny, actually." Scroll down to watch the incident.
WATCH: