There's No Fightin' in Baseball?
It’s finally time to confess. I jinxed the 1973 Cincinnati Reds. In early October 1973, the Reds were headed to the playoffs for the third time in four years. The Big Red Machine had captured the NL pennant in 1970 and 1972, but had come up short both years in the World Series. As a ninth grader in my junior high school, I was asked to read the morning announcements on the intercom. I stepped to the microphone and went a little off-script on the “Thought for the Day”. I proudly exclaimed, “The Reds will win the playoffs and World Series!” It was an easy call. The Reds had dominated the National League in 1973 and were facing a Mets team that had won just 83 games to win the NL East. I left the school office and walked toward my first bell Health class. My teacher was there to greet me: “You just jinxed them.”
Yes, I did. The entire city of Cincinnati was waiting for the Reds to bring home its first world title in over 30 years and I blew it. The Mets won the 5-game NLCS in one of the big upsets in playoff history. What most remember though about that playoff series is the Game 3 fight. The Reds powerful lineup faced New York aces Tom Seaver and Jon Matlack in Games 1 and 2 and Cincinnati’s bats were pretty silent. Prior to Game 3, Mets weak-hitting shortstop Bud Harrelson proclaimed, “The Reds look like me hitting.” In the fifth inning, Pete Rose slid hard into second base resulting in punches thrown, a tackle of Harrelson by Rose, and a dugout and bullpen clearing brawl. It was one of the great fights in MLB playoff history.
Fights in baseball are somewhat rare. When they do occur, you typically don’t see punches thrown or much physical contact other than pushing. It’s mostly a lot of milling around to show support of teammates. More often than not, a baseball fight is the result of knockdown pitches during a game or series when a batter finally says enough and charges the mound. We also see them caused by aggressive baserunning, a hard slide into a base like the 1973 Rose-Harrelson scuffle.
Last weekend in Cleveland a baserunning incident resulted in full out fisticuffs. Jose Ramirez of the Guardians slid through the legs of White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson on a play at second base. Anderson looked down at Ramirez who actually held up his hand thinking that Anderson would help him up. Instead, as Ramirez reported, “He said he wanted to fight and I had to defend myself.” The two squared off. Ramirez landed a punch that knocked down Anderson. The dugouts and bullpens emptied, and the fight between the teams went on for several minutes. The managers, Chicago’s Pedro Grifol, and Cleveland’s Terry Francona, were ejected, as well as Anderson, Ramirez, and the Guardians’ coach Mike Sarbaugh and pitcher Emmanuel Clase. It wasn’t a good look for baseball or either team.
What’s odd about baseball fights is that it’s the only major sport when leaving the bench to participate in the fight doesn’t result in ejection. You see, in baseball, the team on the field always has a numerical advantage when the fight starts. It’s only fair that members of the hitting team can equalize the numbers game by leaving the dugout and bullpen. Another awful moment in Cleveland baseball history is the famous Ten Cent Beer Night in 1974. Drunken fans stormed the field that night and the hometown Indians left their dugout to defend their opponents, the Texas Rangers. Crazy, but true!
Some of the more famous baseball fights involved mismatched combatants. I remember watching in amazement during the 2003 ALCS when Red Sox pitcher, Pedro Martinez, literally threw Yankees coach Don Zimmer to the ground in a fight prompted by knockdown pitches by both teams. Or how about the 1993 scuffle between future Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura? After Ryan hit Ventura with a pitch, Ventura charged the mound. Ryan placed Ventura in a headlock and landed several punches. Ouch! And for the oldtimers, you might recall the August, 1965 Giants vs. Dodgers game featuring the pitching matchup of Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax. With Marichal batting, he thought LA catcher Johnny Roseboro intentionally tried to hit him with a throw back to the mound. Marichal turned and struck Roseboro with his bat. That’s certainly not a fair fight.
The most epic baseball fight happened in a 1984 game between the Padres and the Braves. The war of words, hit batsmen, and fights started in the first inning and erupted throughout most of the game. The umpires simply lost control of it. In the eighth inning an absolute brawl ensued after another batter was hit by a pitch. Fans got involved, punches were thrown, players were ejected, and still no end to it. Padres star reliever Goose Gossage beaned Atlanta’s Donnie Moore in the ninth inning to close the curtain on one of baseball’s saddest nights.
Earlier this week MLB handed down suspensions for the August 5 White Sox vs. Guardians brawl. Tim Anderson received a six-game suspension and Jose Ramirez got three games. Anderson is awaiting the result of his appeal, while after appeal the Ramirez suspension was reduced to two games. Others received one-game suspensions, including the respective managers, Grifol and Francona. Managers cannot appeal suspensions arising from on-field fights. In my view, MLB was way too light on the suspensions. They need to be more meaningful. There truly shouldn’t be fighting in baseball.
I was only “in” one fight in my life, and it happened to be a baseball scuffle in a summer league game. I was that guy who stood in the back, milling about, and hoping it would be over. After last week’s fight in Cleveland, Guardians’ manager Terry Francona said: “It’s not funny, but boys will be boys”. Maybe a better cliché to have used was “there’s no fightin’ in baseball.”
Until next Monday,
your Baseball Bench Coach