The book looks promising from the start: a photo of perhaps the greatest baseball fight ever on the cover, with Nolan Ryan mercilessly punching Robin Ventura in the face.

But then you start to wonder when you first dip into “The Code,” Ross Bernstein’s new book purporting to outline baseball’s unwritten rules.

One of the introductions is written by Rob Dibble, a notorious hothead of a former pitcher who once started a fistfight with manager Lou Piniella in the locker room. In his introduction, Dibble innocently dismisses the infamous incident where he drilled Chicago Cubs outfielder Doug Dascenzo in the back as he was running to first.

According to Dibble, Dascenzo violated “The Code” by bunting late in a lopsided game. Except that’s a lie anyone with a Web connection could disprove: the Cubs were only leading 6-4 in the eighth when Dascenzo bunted to move a runner over, hardly a game that was out of reach. Dibble hit him because he was one of the game’s biggest jerks, simple as that.

So that gives you some idea of the contradictions inherent in “The Code.” On the one hand, it contains fascinating accounts from players on beanballs, brawls, sliding in spikes high, retaliation and other sidelights that intrigue and fascinate fans of the game.

On the other hand, the writing is so mediocre and cliche-ridden that it’s often a chore just to make it through a paragraph. You know you’re in trouble when the writer calls home plate “the dish” or a punch a “haymaker.” Good writers don’t need to use such hackneyed phrases.

And as an aside, the book constantly ignores contractions, even in direct quotes, as if people speak in full sentences. Once you notice that oddity, the writing becomes even more laborious to dig through.

And there are certain things that seem missing. In a too-short chapter on the verbal jousting that goes on between players, Bernstein doesn’t include a single anecdote from players. Who wouldn’t want to know what a catcher says to distract a hitter? And when discussing the hilarious “hidden-ball trick,” Bernstein fails to get comments from a single person who’s fallen victim to it.

Still, the book does have some fun information, although that’s primarily in shaded boxes that include direct accounts from former players. The book could have used many more of these anecdotes, told directly by the players, to liven things up.

Sadly, despite that alluring cover, Bernstein doesn’t include any comments from Ryan on how a 46-year-old man so thoroughly demolished a 26-year-old in that famous 1993 fight in Texas.

So the book offers some highlights, but on the whole, is disappointing. Check it out from the library instead of spending your money on it.