There’s no crying in baseball, as the old saying goes, and the Minnesota State High School League is banning most chanting in baseball, too.

The MSHSL board of directors on Thursday, Feb. 5, unanimously voted to adopt new “bench decorum” rules that prohibit the chanting that teams had used in recent years to distract opponents.

“Call it a trickle-down effect from the college game,” MSHSL senior associate director Bob Madison said. “I would much rather have the behaviors of the Savannah Bananas than [what] we see at an NCAA game, where it’s impacting play.”

The MSHSL, after consulting with coaches, listed the issues, including:

• Coordinated chanting as the pitcher delivers a pitch.
• Using bats or other devices to make distracting noises during play.
• Holding spectators near the dugout to the same standard as bench personnel.

“This … better defines for umpires in particular, what to do when these kinds of behaviors occur, and the steps they should follow,” MSHSL assistant director Jason Nickleby said. “I think umpires were in a tough spot with, ‘How do I address this?’”

Starting this season in Minnesota, all coordinated chanting must stop when the pitcher takes the rubber. The head coach is responsible for the behavior of any individual in the bench area.

For the first infraction, the umpire will give a verbal warning. Then a written warning. If it continues, the individual will be ejected.

As to why the MSHSL isn’t adopting a similar rule for softball, Madison said, “Please remember that baseball and softball have very different rules.”

He noted that softball has adopted things like a double first base that baseball doesn’t have. A double first base has bases connected side by side, designed to reduce collisions between runners and fielders.

“This is meant to address behaviors occurring in baseball that we believe have a negative impact,” Madison said. “We are not saying that about softball.”