Retaliation in Baseball/Motif

Warren's intentional pitch to hurt Joe introduces the motif of retaliation. There are several references to the practice of retaliation in baseball that suggest baseball in years past was a vengeful sport that had to be carefully played. The most obvious example of retaliation in baseball is Warren’s act of ending Joe’s career by hitting him in the head with a fast pitch. There are also less violent examples of this expected retaliation when Razor tackles Warren after Joe was hurt. The lessons that Joe’s brothers gave him in baseball etiquette also demonstrate how common it was for players to hurt a person they believed was out of line.

Warren retaliates against Joe not just because he hit a home run off one of his pitches, but because he was jealous that Paul admired Joe and not him. Because Paul...