FORT MYERS, Fla. — Baseball is a culture as much as a game. Like any tribal people, customs and conduct are passed down and attempts to alter them are met with resistance.

One of the game’s hallowed habits is breaking up the double play at second base, inviting hurt feelings and broken bones. But no longer will runners be able to take a derriere pat-earning path of destruction on the basepaths.

Major League Baseball is instituting a rule this season that prohibits runners from the old-fashioned takeout slide. There will be no more straying from the basepath or last-second launching to topple an infielder pivoting on a double play like he’s part of a 7-10 split at the local bowling alley. Doing so will result in an interference call and both the runner and the batter/runner being called out. Possible violations will be subject to replay review.

In this age of injury enlightenment in sports, this rule is overdue. Just Google “Ruben Tejada and Chase Utley.’’ Most sports could do with a little less manufactured machismo and a little more common sense. For too long we’ve allowed hunting and hurting opponents to be passed off as hard-nosed play and hustle. It’s nonsensical that playing baseball “the right way’’ means never flipping your bat, and trying to flip a leaping infielder on a 4-6-3 double play.

The slide rule has four components — the runner must make contact with the ground before reaching the base, he must be able to touch the base, he must be able to retain contact following his slide, and he cannot divert his path to try to initiate contact with the fielder.

There were audible groans and expletives from players when Red Sox manager John Farrell explained to his team Thursday that some were going to have to change their slides to prevent an umpire from interpreting it as illegal.

It took just one Grapefruit League game for that to happen. In the Red Sox’ 7-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, the Sox were notified that a second-inning slide by Hanley Ramirez on a 4-6-3 double play could have been called interference if the Twins hadn’t turned the twin killing.

“There were three different interpretations,’’ said Farrell. “So, we know that much like when replay came in there is going to be growing pains with this. No one is denying that.’’

Farrell added: “There is a lot of variability. What we’re being straightforward with our guys is [executing] a simple direct slide and take away the potential judgment that exists.’’

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts is conflicted. As an infielder he likes the protection, but as a base runner he is wary.

“The game has been played a certain way for however many years,’’ said Bogaerts. “So, now they’re changing it, obviously, because of the health reasons and avoiding injuries and stuff like that. So, we’ll see how that goes once the games starts. Hopefully, they’re not going to be calling double plays like crazy, just for just a little bit [of diversion].’’

Chris Marinak, senior vice president of economics and strategy for MLB, acknowledged there was a learning curve for the 2014 home plate collision rule, which caused confusion, controversy, and some dubious calls, and there will be one for the base running rules, too.

“Player safety is critical to front offices and players. Nobody wants to have one of your starting nine sitting on the bench with a joint injury or a broken bone. Nobody wants that,’’ said Marinak.

“Anything you can do for safety people are supportive of. A lot of times we hear people complain right out of the shoot they don’t like a rule. They don’t understand it . . . I think a couple of weeks into the season after Opening Day we’ll never hear about this again. I think guys will adjust to it and just accept it as a new part of the game, and we move on, which is a good thing.’’

Marinak cleared up a few possible misconceptions about the rule. He said the rule doesn’t outlaw contact completely. It just aims to eliminate slides targeting infielders, not the bag. He also said the rule doesn’t require a player to slide directly into the bag, as the NCAA version does.

He pointed out that for the rule to come into play, an umpire or a replay reviewer must determine there was interference.

“Irrespective of the sliding criteria, that’s the first judgment. That’s always going to be a judgment,’’ said Marinak.

In concert with the new precepts on the basepaths, there is another one of baseball’s unwritten rules that is being eliminated — the nebulous “neighborhood play,’’ which required the infielder turning a double play only to be in the same state as the second base bag for the force out.

“They were connected,’’ said Marinak. “Some of the commentary I read was that these two seemed to counterbalance each other from a safety standpoint. I would just offer we don’t really feel that way. A lot of media reports made it seem like it happened three times a game. The reality was it was extremely rare. It was something that had become obsolete with replay. I think our thought was we might as well just formally bury it and turn the page and replace it with the slide rule.’’

Marinak said there were 12 instances last season in which a manager wanted to challenge and couldn’t because it had been ruled the neighborhood play.

Baseball is a game that wallows in its history and habits. The sport fights change at first, whether it’s night games, interleague play, playoff expansion, or instant replay.

It’s doubtful that the transition to the new way of playing double plays will go flawlessly — or quietly. There will be some controversial call or non-call that will have a team irate and spark debate.

But in the name of safety, baseball couldn’t let the old way of sliding slide anymore.

Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper.