Basebrawl: Enough Already Jason Michael Barker

Last I checked, baseball was not a full-contact sport. For the most part, a game can be played with very little contact between opposing players, if any at all. In this regard, baseball has always been a bit more elegant and refined than football, hockey and even basketball.

That wasn't the case in Chicago Saturday, as the White Sox and Tigers engaged in one of the biggest, ugliest on-field incidents in recent memory. Eleven players were tossed from Saturday's game, which featured brawls of 13 minutes in the seventh inning and eight in the ninth.

Reports from the game read like a police blotter: Chicago's Magglio Ordoñez was ejected for kicking. Teammate Keith Foulke needed five stitches to close a cut under his left eye. Detroit's Rob Fick was taunting fans near the bullpen, who responded by pouring beer on him. Detroit manager Phil Garner choked so hard during the melee that his voice was hoarse Sunday.

Say what you will about today's offensive levels, the wild card, the designated hitter or interleague play -- none of those supposed abominations are nearly as polluting to the game as an ugly brawl which quite simply has no place on the field or anywhere near baseball.

The underlying problem is that pitchers have lost the inside part of the plate. Once an important part of their craft, today's pitchers are wary of throwing inside, let along buzzing a hitter with a fastball up and in, because hitters seem to view such actions as a threat to their manhood. Never mind that said hitters are standing on top of the plate, their armor-plated elbows and forearms extending well into the strike zone.

Not only should pitchers be allowed to throw inside, they should be able to brush back hitters who are crowding the plate. This requires, on the part of the umpires, better enforcement of rule 6.08b, which states that the batter is not entitled to first base if he is makes no attempt to avoid being touched by a pitched ball. Batters rarely make anything more than a token effort to get out of the way, unless of course the pitch is coming directly for his head. Wait, we might be on to something there...

Further, something must be done to avoid bench-clearing brawls entirely. My first thought was that Major League Baseball should take a page from the National Basketball Association, which forbids players who are not in the game at the time from leaving the bench. This is why, when a fight breaks out on the court, you'll often see several assistant coaches make a point of holding back the players on their bench. Players who come off the bench are both fined and suspended, which is usually enough of a deterrent.

The plot thickens, however, when you look through the Official Rules of Major League Baseball. (Incidentally, the Mariners gave away paperback copies of the book a few years ago as a give-away. It was a vastly underrated promotion, because there are probably quite a few people interested in having a copy but who weren't going to go out and actually buy one, myself included.)

Enter rule 3.17, which states:

Players and substitutes of both teams shall confine themselves to their team's benches unless actually participating in the play or preparing to enter the game, or coaching first or third base. PENALTY: For violation the umpire may, after warning, remove the offender from the field.

So there you have it. Not only are bench-clearing brawls stupid, they're also against the rules of baseball. Presumably the head umpire during Saturday's game could have warned both teams per this rule, and the second time the benches cleared, he could have ejected the entirety of both teams. In addition to being downright amusing, my guess is it would only take this happening one time for players and coaches alike to get it through their skulls their fannies should stay glued to the pine.

I don't see an umpire doing this, however, so MLB should simply make a rule that any players leaving the bench (or bullpen) during a fight will be slapped with a three-game suspension. This brings up the following questions: "What happens to the batter who charges the mound? Is he left out there alone against nine members of the opposing team?"

I see two ways to resolve this issue. The first is to do nothing. As in, yes, he's out there alone, one man against nine. Wouldn't that be a great way to deter batters from charging the mound?

The second way would be to require that all position players remain at their positions. That is, if the hitter wants to take on the pitcher, let the two of them go at it one-on-one, WWF-style. This is similar to the National Hockey League's "third man in" rule, which allows the one-on-one confrontation but nothing larger.

In closing, something must be done to avoid ridiculous scenes like the one Saturday in Chicago, and similarly something must be to do assure that pitchers can use the inside part of the plate as it was originally intended -- as a place they could pitch to. There are a variety of viable solutions, but with things in the hands of Bud Selig, don't hold your breath.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker was planning to charge the mound during a university intramural softball game last year, until he realized the pitcher was his Social Psychology professor. Suggest Jason should have yelled "The tables have turned, Dr. Brown!" as he charged to jmb@strikethree.com.