I was not at all pleased to see Carlos Quentin and Zack Greinke go at it last night. And I am on record as saying that throwing at guys is dumb. And that charging the mound is dumb. I am glad that fights are fewer and more far between now than they used to be back in the day, but I’d like to see them eliminated totally.
That said: some of these brawls can be kind of fun to watch if you put your hangups about such things aside.
Here are some of the more memorable ones, in no particular order:
Nolan Ryan vs. Robin Ventura, 1993:
This one needs no introduction, for we’ve seen it a zillion times. It’s often called an epic beatdown by the elder, just-about-to-retire Ryan on the poor young Ventura. But in reality Ventura fought back fairly decently after weathering Ryan’s initial, famous assault:
OK, maybe Ventura still got totally owned, but history would have you believe that Ryan knocked him into next Tuesday. It was next Sunday at best.
Braves vs. Padres, 1984
Pascual Perez hit Alan Wiggins and it led to not just one, but multiple fights throughout the game. If this happend today the Internt would break:
Juan Marichal vs. John Roseboro, 1965
This one was scary. Marichal had thrown inside to two Dodgers hitters early. When he came to bat later in the game, the Dodgers catcher made a point to throw the ball back to pitcher Sandy Koufax in such a way as to have it sail close to Marichal’s head. Marichal flipped out, clubbed Roseboro with his bat and then a lengthy brawl ensured. Roseboro needed 14 stitches. Marichal was suspended for eight games. It coulda been way, way worse:
Orioles vs. Yankees, 1998
Armando Benitez threw one in Tino Martinez’s back. All hell broke loose:
Kevin Youkilis vs. Rick Porcello, 2009
First pitch plunk, a mound charge, a helmet throw and then a skinny ground ball pitcher does what he does best: buries Youkilis into the ground with a nice takedown. My girlfriend, a Tiger fan, has a picture from this one framed and displays it in our home.
Major League Baseball won’t let us embed this one, but you can see it all here.
Pete Rose vs. Bud Harrelson, 1973 NLCS
This one was more notable for the timing of it than the actual fisticuffs. You just don’t see fights like this in league championship series, as no one wants to risk a suspension or injury with so much at stake. But then again, when Pete Rose is involved, all bets are off:
Don Zimmer vs. Pedro Martinez, 2003 ALCS
Another LCS fight, this one with a much greater age difference than the Ryan-Ventura fight. Since it occurred, Pedro has said that he really had no idea what to do with the then-72 year-old coach charging him -- Pedro also claims Zimmer was going to punch him and was insulting his mother -- so he sort of did an ole-job. Zimmer’s response to that in 2009? “Pedro is full of crap ... It’s what, six years later? If Pedro wants to be a big man, I don’t care what he says.” Let’s just agree to disagree, gentlemen, and agree that this was hilarious:
Tigers vs. White Sox, 2000
I couldn’t find video of this one but I remember it well from the SportsCenter clips that night. Tigers starter Jeff Weaver hit Carlos Lee with a pitch. The next inning Jim Parque hit Dean Palmer. Palmer charged the mound, threw his helmet, and the fight was on. Unlike today’s pushing and shoving, guys were really punching each other. There was blood and guts and everything.
Field:
Hey, not all of these get their own category. Sometimes you just gotta listen to some bad music and watch baseball fights in montage form:
Got a favorite I missed? Let’s talk about them in the comments. But please: let’s keep it civil. I don’t want to have to eject anyone.
