Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
From a broken collar bone in Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Diego Padres to punches thrown in a few other mêlées, brawls in Major League Baseball this year have been out of control. The benches cleared in a game Thursday between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. Finally, at long last two teams got it right. All of this punch throwing, tackling mess is not for baseball. Examine the way the White Sox and Tigers did it to understand the proper way a baseball brawl is to be done.
It started with Chris Sale getting a little knocked around and placed a fast ball just under the chin of Prince Fielder. It wasn’t that close however and wasn’t that difficult to dodge. The Tigers then followed that by throwing behind one of the next White Sox batters and the benches cleared. There was finger pointing and a little bit of shoving but in large part there was nothing bad happening.
When I think of the way a baseball brawl should go I think of something Kenny Mayne said a long time ago. It should be kind of like this, “Did not, did too, my dad’s bigger than your dad.” Meaningless pushing and shoving should be followed by either a tossing of a pitcher or warnings for everyone. The bullpens certainly have to jog out but no one really gets hit, no one gets hurt. A few people get tossed, a few people get angry but in large part everyone walks away without a grudge.
All of this messy stuff where a grudge goes from one series to the next is just going to get talented fathers and husbands hurt seriously and who really wants that? This isn’t gang warfare, its baseball for goodness sake. Use the conflict between these teams as a model. This is the way it should be handled by managers, players and umpires alike. Well done gentlemen.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+.
