Are Brawls Good for Baseball? - Joe Chacon's Blog

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Joe Chacon's Blog

Are Brawls Good for Baseball? Stuck

Posted on April 12, 2013 at 06:07 PM.

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It takes a lot for me to react to a televised baseball game in such a way that I wake up the kids by yelling �Oh S---!� I didn�t think ahead and yell for them to put on their earmuffs ala Old School, nor did I have the courtesy to respect the fact that my wife had just spent the last hour putting them to sleep. In essence, I was selfish, and it�s all Carlos Quentin�s fault.

I try to catch the majority of each Dodger game live on TV or radio, and as such I was kicking back watching Zach Greinke close out another quality start in the bottom of the sixth inning. The wonderful Vin Scully had mentioned more than a couple of times during the series about how Quentin is the leader in being hit by pitch. Sure enough, with the count full, Greinke pelts him on the shoulder in what appeared to be a ball that got away from him.

Prior to this melee, I was impressed with Quentin�s story. He was born in Bellflower, CA and grew up within 20 miles or so of where I�ve spent my life here in Southern California. Quentin then went on to become Mr. Everything in San Diego by doing just about everything a high school athlete could dream of. Heck, he was even named San Diego Male Athlete of the year in 2000.

You�ve seen the video by now, Quentin gets nailed and makes a couple of steps towards the mound. Greinke allegedly said something, but nobody except for Greinke knows what that was. We�re not even sure Quentin knows for sure what Greinke said. In the post-game interviews Quentin only continued to keep saying that �there is a history� between the two of them and for the media to �go look it up.�

After those first couple of steps, Dodgers� catcher AJ Ellis should have stepped in front of Quentin and directed him towards first base. Unfortunately, Ellis was just as surprised as I was when the Padre went charging towards the mound. Now, for some reason, I was hoping Greinke had taken some offseason MMA workouts so that he could deliver a spinning back-fist. How awesome would that have been? Instead we are greeted with what appeared to be the start of a sumo-wrestling match where the two guys bang into each other. Quentin then threw Greinke to the ground like a rag doll and now the Dodgers are without their star pitcher for a couple of months.

Personally, I love how Major League Baseball players police themselves. I love seeing teams stick up for one another and I believe the camaraderie baseball players have with each other throughout their marathon of a season is unlike anything else in sports. If you�ve ever played baseball and been around the same group of guys for a long season, you know they become your brothers. I�m sure those of you who play other sports can relate to this feeling as well. I�d hate to see MLB make any sort of rule change to prevent benches clearing brawls as I feel it is a very important aspect of the game. For example, imagine if MLB took a page out of the NBA bylaws and suspended players for leaving the benches. We�d then just see a fight between two guys in the same manner they do in hockey. Wait a second, maybe that�s a good thing.

Sure, I�m pretty bent that Quentin took exception to being hit and ended up breaking Greinke�s collar bone. It was refreshing to see, however, how passionate these players are for each other.

What�s a game without passion?

OS Voice: Do you think MLB will ever adopt a rule that says players can�t leave the benches during a fight on the field?

Joe Chacon is a staff writer for Operation Sports and a columnist for The MMA Corner. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Comments

# 1 ggsimmonds @ Apr 12

It is not good for the game, but that does not mean it is necessarily bad.

# 2 cusefan74 @ Apr 13

It's not good for the sport at all. I don't mind seeing people get hit with the ball as long as they don't head hunt, but fighting, no they don't need that.

# 3 Bunselpower32 @ Apr 13

Quentin was in the wrong here, don't take this the wrong way, but look at Grienke, he didn't even try to run. If he would have run, or done anything other the leading with his SHOULDER, he probably wouldn't have gotten a SHOULDER injury. Grienke was more than likely mouthing off, and he seemed more than ready to fight, and if that's the case, then he deserves what he gets.

Again, not saying that Quentin was right or anything, but Grienke had just as much of a chance to end that fight before it started, but his pig-headedness cost him a long time on the DL, and there is no way you can blame that on Quentin.

# 4 krmarks @ Apr 15

This may be a biased opinion on my part since I am a former collegiate pitcher and current pitching coach for a high school team, but I am of the opinion that bench clearing events and fighting in general should be completely eliminated from baseball.

I understand the battle of wills that takes place in a hitter and pitcher match up. The hitter is strongly contesting that the plate is his and you better respect where I am and give me something to hit "meat", and the same goes for a pitcher. The pitcher fully believes the plate is his and you better not hang a body part over it or you are gonna wear it, while at the same time the pitcher is aware he is going to make an occasional mistake and plunk a hitter here and there. Pitchers think that hitters need to be respectful and jog down to first when that happens. When it is intentional or feels like it is intentional, then the other pitcher will take care of it when he is on the mound. That is how it is supposed to work, but it seems some guys get their ego's in the way and feel all butt hurt when they get hit. I am not really sure where this went down hill, but I am highly in favor of restricting the players to the dugout or face a very high suspension, as well as suspending players that charge the mound. I think the same thing can be done with pitchers. Pitchers who have a history of hitting guys in intentional situations can also face suspension. I fully realize that could be hard to police or interpreted incorrectly, but I think it can be handled similar to hockey in that regard.

Lets bring respect back to the game.

# 5 woodjer @ Apr 15

I'm ok with the bench-clearing brawls as long as it's a rare thing. If it happens too much, it's not good for the game. That said...no way should players be restricted to staying in the dugouts. In any other sport, you have the same number of players on the field from each team so fights always have a 1-to-1 ratio and the bench rules make sense. Baseball's a different beast though...if players can't leave the bench, it's roughly a 2-to-1 ratio at best. That would definitely discourage the batter from charging the mound but I can also see it making pitchers more bold knowing that their side would have the numbers in a fight. If MLB wants to discourage the brawls, it has to be done some other way.