BRAWLS AWAY FROM THE RING: DISHONORABLE MENTION:

1. Armando Benitez loses his cool and heats things up, May 19, 1998, Yankee Stadium

       Before Armando Benitez earned Met fans’ wrath with his lack of composure in the clutch he drew the Yankees ire with his lack of class under duress. On May 19, 1998, while with Baltimore, Benitez blew a save on Bernie Williams’ three-run homer. Frustrated, he emoted by intentionally blazing a fastball into the back of Tino Martinez. After being ejected for this churlish and childish act, he dropped his glove and spread his arms, challenging Martinez and his teammates.

       That the Yankees would not, could not, take. Darryl Strawberry led the charge from the dugout while Graeme Lloyd hustled in from the bullpen, firing punches. The brawl sprawled across the field. Mike Stanton wrestled Oriole Chris Hoiles. Strawberry blindsided Benitez with an overhand punch which brought him a shot to the face by Baltimore’s Alan Mills as the fight spilled into the Oriole dugout. After ten minutes of violence five players were ejected and there were 18 games worth of suspensions (eight for Benitez) but the brawl seemed to  bring the Yankees together as a team… an utterly unbeatable team.

2. Jeff Bloemberg refuses to fight back, April 5, 1990, Madison Square Garden

It doesn’t take much time for a hockey game to get ugly. With just two seconds left in the opening game of their 1990 playoff series, Islander goon Mick Vukota attacked Ranger Jeff Bloemberg while fellow enforcer Ken Baumgartner went after Kris King.

The act was particularly brutish because it was blatantly premeditated—the Islanders were furious about a dirty blow against their star Pat LaFontaine early in the game yet they did nothing about it until LaFontaine was knocked unconscious with a perfectly clean and legal hit at game’s end. Then coach Al Arbour sent in his goons to inflict some pain. However, the fight was ultimately more damaging to Vukota than Bloemberg. As Vukota repeatedly punched Bloemberg, the Ranger—a religious man who didn’t believe in fighting-- covered up and refused to retaliate. Vukota, who received a ten-game suspension, looked less like an avenging hero and more like a playground bully. It was fight the Rangers won by losing.

3. Cliff Johnson hurts the wrong guy, April 19, 1979, Yankee Stadium

With the 1970s Yankees, they didn’t always need an opposing team for a good brawl. On April 19, 1979, Yankee closer Goose Gossage was teasing teammate Cliff Johnson in the clubhouse. Johnson fired back and the barbs turned nasty. Then things got physical… and ugly as Gossage tore a ligament in his right thumb. He’d miss more than two months and  Johnson was shipped off to Cleveland. “If you mess around with the G-Man [Gossage], the big guy with the boats is going to get you,” explained Reggie Jackson, referring to George Steinbrenner.

4. Kevin Brown loses fight with a wall, September 3, 2004, Yankee Stadium

Kevin Brown was an angry man. This was a seemingly perpetual state of affairs but when his temper reared its ugly head on September 3, 2004—after a month without a really strong outing—the overpaid Yankee pitcher lashed out. Since he’d already been sent to the showers Brown chose an unusual target: the clubhouse wall. Poor choice. The wall took all Brown could give—one lefty punch—and KO’d the pitcher who broke two bones in his hand and needed surgery. The surly Brown returned before the season’s end but, given his performance during New York’s epic collapse against Boston in the ALCS (two starts, 3-1/3 innings total, nine runs allowed), perhaps the team would have fared better if he had stayed in the clubhouse punching walls.

5. Rangers and Americans need the police to break it up, December 29, 1936, Madison Square Garden

No rivalry in hockey’s early days stirred emotions more than the Rangers and the New York Americans, an NHL team that pre-dated the Rangers but had been consigned to second-class citizenship on their mutual home ice. On December 29, 1936 those emotions spilled over when Ranger Frank Boucher and American Hal Cotton collided in the first period. Soon fists were flying everywhere from everyone. It got so ugly the refs couldn’t calm things down and had to call on the New York City police, who came out onto the ice to end it.

6. Tie Domi goons it up against Bob Probert, February, 1992, Madison Square Garden

Detroit Red Wing Bob Probert stood 6’3” and 215 pounds and was the unofficial heavyweight champ among NHL goons. New York Ranger Tie Domi was just 5’10” and didn’t belong in the same weight class as Probert but the dirty and ambitious Domi wanted a piece of the top dog nonetheless.

On February 9, 1992 Domi got his shot and made the most of it. When the Rangers fell behind 2-1 in the first period coach Roger Neilson sent Domi in to rally the troops. When Probert called Domi “dummy” the pit bull immediately went on the attack, pulling Probert’s sweater over his head and landing some big lefts, opening a gash over the big man’s right eye. Although Probert retaliated, Domi acted like Ali standing over Liston holding up an imaginary title belt and whipping up the Garden crowd as he headed for the penalty box. (The game ended in a 5-5 tie.)

But Domi couldn’t leave well enough alone. He kept blathering on about a rematch, publicly declaring he’d fight Probert again in their next meeting, virtually guaranteeing himself trouble with the league. When the two teams met again that December Probert went right after Domi and amidst the dozens of punches thrown got the better of him, even pulling him back to his feet to prevent the refs from breaking up the fight so he could pummel Domi some more. A month later both Domi and Nielson were gone from the Rangers.

 7. Tyson draws blood in the streets, August 23, 1988, Harlem

For Mike Tyson, the brawling never stopped even after the final bell. On August 23, 1988, Tyson ran into Mitch “Blood” Green late at night at a Harlem shop called Dapper Dan’s. Green had lasted 10 rounds inside the ring against Tyson in 1986, an impressive feat in those days. But despite being a former gang leader and supposed inspiration for a character in the movie “The Warriors,” Green didn’t fare so well out on the street.

Tyson provoked an argument that quickly escalated from the verbal to the physical. Green threw one ineffectual punch but Tyson responded with a classic right to the nose, drawing blood from “Blood” who ultimately required five stitches.

The battle was over quickly but the winner wasn’t really decided for another nine years. In 1997 Green won a $45,000 court judgment in a civil suit regarding this incident against the troubled ex-champ. “I beat him in court,” Green said. “I just can’t get him in the ring.”

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