To my knowledge, there had been some bad blood between the teams for a number of years. But why Ventura, and why Ryan. Ryan hadn’t hit anybody all year and had no reason to try to hurt Ventura.
Pudge Rodriguez made a satement about it after the game quoted on “The Postgame,”Nolan Ryan didn’t try to hit him,” says Rodriguez. “He just tried to pitch in like everybody else, and it just got away. It was a very intense game. Robin Ventura had hit Ryan hard in the first inning, and [Ryan] was trying to keep him off the plate.”
So, was he head hunting like the media is trying to insinuate? I don’t think so. Just pitching inside to protect the plate. Got away like Pudge said. It happens.
rwood
The fact Pudge says Ryan was trying to keep him off the plate indicts Ryan. That was never intended to be a brush-back pitch. Go watch the pitch again. That was either (A) completely a wild pitch, or (B) intended to hit the batter.