Posted on 08/04/2018 8:28:30 AM PDT by DFG
Over the course of his 27-year career, Nolan Ryan won 324 games and struck out an all-time best 5,714 batters. It was presumably those feats of longevity and performance that made him a first-ballot Hall of Famer and placed him on a short list of the greatest pitchers of all time. Ryan is also remembered, however, for being involved in one of the most memorable brawls in baseball history -- and being someone you absolutely do not want to mess with.
On Aug. 4, 1993 -- the final season of Ryan's career -- the righty toed the rubber for a start against the White Sox. After Chicago third baseman Robin Ventura hit an RBI single in the first inning on a fastball over the plate, the 46-year-old Ryan was determined to not give him something that good to hit again. So, when Ventura came around again in the third inning, Ryan worked inside and ended up hitting him in the shoulder.
After taking a couple steps toward first base, Ventura decided to charge the mound. Almost immediately, it was quite apparent that he would regret that decision:
(Excerpt) Read more at mlb.com ...
Robin was 26. Nolan was 46. Old man rive kicked his butt!
If you are a hitter and you want to get back at a pitcher who beaned you, you just wait until the next time up and drop a bunt down the first base line. When the pitcher comes over to play it, just wreck him right there on the field.
Oops. I missed your face! Lemme fix that for ya!
My favorite pitcher...bought his rookie card...shared with Jerry Koosman...paid $38 for it...sold it to the guy I bought it from several yrs later for $900...he sold it again for $1200. Everybody won...ain’t capitalism great?
This was less a brawl and more of a massacre.
It’s always neat to track the obscure history of baseball feuds. Someone will get stuck in the ribs out of the blue, and there is probably a reason for it that potentially goes back aways.
Freegards
Nevertheless, and Great Caesar's Ghost(!) Ryan could throw a ball hard. Getting hit by one of his pitches could take a good deal of humor out of an afternoon.
For Ventura, having his head restructured may have felt good in comparison.
Then, if I was Ventura, I would have learned the valuable insight that a.) choosing your opponent should never be done on whim and b.) to win, the aggressor must vanquish; the defender need only survive.
Ventura got part "b." exactly backwards.
Go Big Tex!
And Ryan didn’t even take his glove off.
I still have someplace a signed roster from the olympic team that Ventura was on, plus others, including the one armed guy who's name escapes me...
Reminds me of the time the Mets and their fans became outraged when shortstop Ruben Tejada turned his back on the play and was taken out by the base runner, Chase Utley of the Dodgers, breaking up the double play. How dare a player make a hard nosed play in a playoff game. Today's professional athletes, as a group, are whining, sniveling losers, unaware of how feminine they have become.
Utley was a dirty player and that was a dirty play
Jim Abbott
Ryan did drop his glove. The glove you see is the Rodriguez’s (the catcher).
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