Such an inflexible apportionment of jobs, rather like an old-fashioned assembly line, flouts modern management techniques where team members typically float between roles.
People are more likely to lie or cheat if others are lying or cheating, or if a member of another social group (such as a student wearing a sweatshirt from a rival university) visibly flouts the rules.
Mr. McCourt's action flouts one of baseball's most sacred tenets: That the commissioner's power to act "in the best interests of baseball" is essentially unlimited, giving him the right ban players and executives, reject unfair trades and, when necessary, control the operations of franchises.