BRAWLS ON THE ROAD: THE REST OF THE TOP 10 AND DISHONORABLE MENTION

1. Ty Cobb flattens Buck Herzog, March 31, 1917, Oriental Hotel, Dallas

       No one knows what really happened behind closed doors on March 31, 1917. But it certainly wasn’t pretty.

In a spring training game in Dallas that afternoon Giant Buck Herzog exchanged harsh words with the nefarious Tiger Ty Cobb, who told New York skipper John McGraw to control his player or Cobb would “send him back to you on a stretcher.” In the first inning Cobb spiked Herzog, drawing blood and prompting a bench-clearing rhubarb.

At the Oriental Hotel that night Herzog challenged Cobb to a showdown in Cobb’s room. Herzog was a trained boxer but foolishly chose an all-out brawl over Marquis of Queensbury rules.

After that, it’s all storytelling from Cobb and those listening from the hallway. Some say Cobb pounded Herzog’s head against the bed’s footboard, others that he backhanded the challenger to the floor then clipped him on the chin, driving him to his knees, and others that Herzog threw a knockdown punch but Cobb recovered to give him a bloody nose and black eye.

       Cobb clearly won, however, and when McGraw threatened to have him suspended, the irascible Tiger pinched the manager’s nose and publicly humiliated him, yelling, “If you were a younger man, I’d kill you.” Then Cobb left town refusing to play further exhibitions against the Giants.

2. The Mets beat up, then beat, Cincinnati, July 22, 1986, Riverfront Stadium

Everyone wanted a piece of the 1986 Mets but this was one club that could back up its arrogance with its fists and its smarts, its gloves and its bats. The Mets used ‘em all to beat—and beat up—the Reds. With two outs in the ninth and the Mets trailing 3-1, Red Dave Parker muffed the game-ending fly ball allowing the Mets to tie the game. In the tenth inning, Cincinnati’s Eric Davis slid hard into third base, popped up and caught Ray Knight on the jaw. Knight, who was both an ex-Red and a former amateur boxer, smashed Davis with a right cross to his jaw. The Mets’ fourth bench-clearing brawl of the year was on.

After 15 minutes of rumbling, Met Kevin Mitchell (and Red Mario Soto) were ejected with the two protagonists. Since Darryl Strawberry had already been heaved for arguing a strike call and pitcher Rick Aguilera had been used as a pinch-hitter, manager Davey Johnson was short of players.

He stuck catcher Gary Carter at third base, his first game there since 1975, then put reliever Roger McDowell in right field. With two outs Johnson brought McDowell in to pitch and sent Jesse Orosco from the mound to right. In the 11th, Johnson, trying to keep his pitchers out of trouble in the field moved McDowell moved to left and Mookie Wilson to right. Finally, after McDowell came on to pitch in the 13th Orosco not only caught a fly ball by Tony Perez he also drew a walk in the 14th to set up Howard Johnson’s three-run homer that gave the Mets a most exhausting, improbable and satisfying win. 

3. Knicks and Suns pile up, March 23, 1993, Phoenix

       On March 23, 1993, Greg Anthony was wearing expensive clothes when he took the cheapest of cheap shots.  The Knicks were in Phoenix and Anthony was in street clothes—including a silk shirt—nursing a sprained ankle when he left the bench and sucker-punched Sun Kevin Johnson.

       Near the end of the first half Johnson and Doc Rivers had gotten into a shouting match, as had Danny Ainge and John Starks and then Ainge and Knick coach Pat Riley. All four players were nailed with technicals. Moments later Johnson used his shoulder on a screen to slam Rivers to the floor. Rivers charged his antagonist only to be grabbed by peacemaker Charles Barkley; Knick Bo Kimble held back Johnson. There was not going to be a brawl this time around… until Anthony raced off the bench and up to Johnson, bopping him in the eye (giving him a shiner) while Kimble was still grabbing him. It was the ugliest punch the NBA had seen since Kermit Washington shattered Rudy Tomjanovich’s face in 1977. All hell broke loose as fists started flying and players and coaches started piling up.

       In the end six players were ejected and 21 players received either technicals, suspensions or an NBA record $292,512 in fines, while Riley’s pants were torn in the fray. Still, it was noted that Riley’s hair came through un-mussed. "Never moved,” Barkley said, “Even at the bottom of the pile.”

4. Yankees fall into disharmony, August 20, 1964, Chicago

On August 20, 1964 rookie manager Yogi Berra was steaming as the Yankees rode the bus to O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The team had lost four straight and he was hearing rumors about his impending dismissal and gossip that he couldn’t control the team. When part-timer Phil Linz started practicing “Mary Had A Little Lamb” on his harmonica it was more than Berra could take. “Shut that thing up,” he yelled.

Linz asked what he’d said and Mickey Mantle stirred up trouble by claiming Berra said, “Play it louder.” Linz played louder and Berra stormed back and shouted at Linz before swatting the harmonica away—it banged Joe Pepitone’s knee and he yelped in faux pain, breaking the tension. Although everyone laughed, the team showed more respect for Berra after that and, thanks to an easy schedule, romped through September to another pennant. Still, Berra was fired after the World Series while Linz was enjoying the $20,000 endorsement deal he’d signed with Hohner Harmonica.

5. Joe Adcock hits and gets hit, July 18, 1956, Milwaukee County Stadium

       Milwaukee Brave Joe Adcock had a love-hate relationship with New York’s teams. He loved hitting against them but hated getting hit by them.

       4/29/53: became the first to homer into the Polo Grounds’ centerfield bleachers.

       7/31/54: set total bases record with four homers and double at Ebbets Field.

       8/1/54: after yet another double, was beaned in the helmet by Dodger Clem Labine.

       7/31/55: on anniversary of four-homer game, Giant Jim Hearn broke his arm with a pitch, ending his season

       6/17/56: hit three homers in doubleheader at Ebbets Field, including the only one ever to clear the 83-foot wall and land on the roof.

       7/18/56: The Climax. Adcock entered with seven homers in nine games. Giant Ruben Gomez hits him on the wrist. Fed up, the soft-spoken but powerful Adcock went after Gomez bat in hand. Gomez, knowing Adcock has four inches, forty-five pounds and a piece of lumber to his advantage, fired another ball into Adcock’s thigh at close range. Then Gomez took off, running for his life. He eventually scampered into the dugout, the tunnel and the clubhouse with his adversary in pursuit Finally several Giants restrained their foe. According to lore, Gomez grabbed an ice pick and tried re-emerging but cooler heads prevailed.

DISHONORABLE MENTION

1. The Knicks and Bulls go all out… with their fists, May 13th, 1994, Chicago Stadium

        When New York’s Derek Harper slugged Chicago’s Jo Jo Harper in the face then hurled him to the floor in the middle of a Knicks-Bulls playoff game he triggered a bench-clearing brawl…then things got ugly. Somehow the players began hurtling after one another into the stands; once the action moved off-court a teenager got hurt and a woman had a $300 necklace inadvertently yanked off. Commissioner David Stern was sitting just several rows away from the action and reportedly said, “That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen” then suspended Harper and English while levying $162,500 in fines, among the highest totals in league history.

2. A-Rod and Varitek start another round, July 24th, 2004, Fenway Park

After the off-season jockeying between Boston and New York to obtain Curt Schilling and then Alex Rodriguez it was only natural that A-Rod would become a lightening rod for this emotional rivalry in 2004. In fact the Red Sox later credited the donnybrook Rodriguez incited with helping motivate them to their first World Series title since 1918.

       The first-place Yankees were beating the second-place Sox yet again, 3-0 in the third inning when pitcher Bronson Arroyo hit Rodriguez on the arm. Rather than simply ignoring it and going to first Rodriguez retaliated verbally. Boston catcher Jason Varitek stepped in between and soon he and Rodriguez were not only arguing but bumping each other. Fed up, Varitek shoved his mitt in Rodriguez’s face. The benches poured forth.. Tanyon Sturtze jumped Boston’s Gabe Kapler from behind but Kapler, aided by David Ortiz and Trot Nixon left Sturtze bleeding from the ear. The fight stoked Boston’s fire and brought the team together. They eradicated the 3-0 deficit, then rebounded from a 9-4 hole, then beat unbeatable Mariano Rivera in the ninth on Bill Mueller’s two-run walk-off homer. The comebacks make the Red Sox believe in themselves and in October they pulled off the most improbable comeback of all.

3. Ben Chapman takes out Buddy Myers, April 25th, 1933, Griffith Stadium, Washington

       For every violent action there is a more violent reaction.

       July 4, 1932, Yankee Bill Dickey knocked Senator Carl Reynolds unconscious and broke his jaw in a one-punch fight.

       April 23, 1933: Senator pitcher Earl Whitehill knocked Lou Gehrig unconscious with a beanball.

       April 25, 1933: Yankee outfielder Ben Chapman, a vicious man, slid into second cut Senator second baseman Buddy Myer’s legs out from under him. Matters quickly got out of hand at Griffith Stadium.

       Myer kicked Chapman while he was still on the ground.

       Chapman punched Myers. The benches cleared.

       After order was restored Chapman jumped Whitehill, punching him out.

The Senators mobbed Chapman, beating him in their dugout.

Then Senator fans got in on the action, pinning down Dixie Walker before Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri, and Lefty Gomez rescued him.

Three years later the Yankees traded Chapman… to the Senators.

4. John Starks loses his head and uses his head, May 4th, 1993, Market Square Arena, Indiana

In 1993, the Indiana Pacers weren’t yet good enough to really challenge the Knicks but Reggie Miller provided, make that provoked, a preview of the sturm and drang to come. When Miller poured in 36 points to lead Indiana to a 116-93 win for the Pacers’ lone win in the first-round series he spewed his special brand of trash talk the entire time. He picked a particularly volatile target, John Starks, who in the third quarter, retaliated with a full-fledged head-butt. Miller didn’t fight back, he merely overacted the part of the victim. Starks was ejected—and received a public scolding on the court from Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley—but more notably, this was the game in which the roots of the Knicks’ second great rivalry of the 1990s took hold.

5. Bill Dickey connects with one punch, July 4th, 1932, Griffith Stadium

        It was a very brief confrontation with a very long aftermath.

       On July 4th, 1932 at Griffith Stadium Carl Reynolds barreled down the line on a suicide squeeze only to nearly meet his maker at home plate. The Senator outfielder scored but started jawing at Yankee catcher Bill Dickey…. Big mistake. When words escalated to a tussle, Dickey ended the action with one punch, a clean shot to the chin that knocked Reynolds unconscious and broke his jaw. Reynolds missed seven weeks of action while Dickey was suspended for 30 days.

BAD BEHAVIOR: DISHONORABLE MENTION:

1. Bobby Bonilla gets the smile wiped off his face, June 25th, 1992, Shea Stadium

Bobby Bonilla was destined to fail in New York. At his 1992 press conference announcing the $29 million contract making him the highest-paid player ever, Bonilla declared to the press, “I know you all are gonna try, but you're not gonna be able to wipe the smile off my face. I grew up in New York.”

That sort of defensiveness was bad enough but combined with his bad defensive play it became downright ugly. In May, Bonilla had earned ridicule for wearing earplugs to drown out the boos brought on by his batting slump. But the welcome mat was really ripped out from under him on June 25th when television cameras captured him phoning up to the press box trying to persuade the official scorer to undo an error charged against him. In a move too stupid to even seem believable Bonilla waited fifty minutes to speak to the press afterwards then lied to reporters saying he was not complaining about the error but was calling upstairs to ask after the well-being of Jay Horwitz, the Mets’ public relations director who had been sick. (Horwitz compounded the foolishness by backing up Bonilla even though numerous Mets told reporters the truth.)

Yeah, Bobby, you always were looking out for everyone else.

2. Bobby Valentine fools no one, June 9, 1999, Shea Stadium

       For the self-proclaimed smartest guy in baseball Bobby Valentine sure could do some dumb things. Take, for example, June 9th, 1999 when the Met manager was ejected in the 12th inning of a game against Toronto. Valentine couldn’t leave well enough alone. So he snuck back into the corner of the Mets dugout wearing a fake mustache and glasses. The Mets players rolled their eyes the way teenagers do when their parents try acting cool and ESPN announcer Charley Steiner quipped, “What a remarkable comeback Groucho Marx has made,” but baseball officials were not laughing. Valentine’s shenanigans earned him a two-day suspension.

 3. Kid Elberfeld assaults an umpire, September 3, 1906, Hilltop Park

A 5’7” pipsqueak named Norman ain’t gonna intimidate a lot of folks. But an outlaw moniker like “the Tabasco Kid” implies a certain ferocity. And Kid Elberfeld definitely lived up to his hotheaded rep. The Yankee shortstop’s worst eruption came on September 3, 1906 at Hilltop Park when he argued a call by going after the umpire… with his spikes….not once, not twice, but six times before finally grabbing the ump’s arm and yanking on it.

The hometown crowd turned on Elberfeld and several policemen finally dragged him off but Elberfeld broke free and charged back out of the dugout. Teammate Al Orth tried stopping him but Elberfeld punched him then took off after the ump once more before being re-captured… and ultimately suspended in the heat of a pennant race.

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