Everyone likes a good ole-fashioned baseball brawl.
Fighting in baseball dates back to the ’30s, when Bill Dickey broke Carl Reynolds’ jaw after Reynolds collided with Dickey at home plate.
Since then we have seen some classic brawls, such as the one between Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose in 1973. The Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres beat the snot out of each other in 1984, and Eric Davis and Ray Knight duked it out at third base in 1986.
On Wednesday night we had another version of basebrawl. The fight started when Florida Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad threw behind Washington Nationals OF Nyjer Morgan. Morgan charged the mound, and the rest was history.
Here is a breakdown of what led to the fight and the fight itself.
Why did Volstad throw at Morgan?
The Marlins were upset that the night before Morgan destroyed catcher Brett Hayes on a play at the plate. Morgan barreled into home plate, which resulted in Hayes separating his shoulder.
This was the second time that Morgan was involved in a controversial play at home plate. He was involved in a similar play versus the St. Louis Cardinals last week with Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson.
Was Morgan justified in charging the mound?
Yes. I thought Morgan had every right to charge the mound. Volstad made his point in the fourth inning when he pegged Morgan in the back. At that point, everything was over.
I have to think that when Volstad threw behind Morgan, he knew there was going to be a fight, and I think that is what Volstad wanted.
Where does this fight rank?
The beginning was solid, but it didn’t have much staying power. The 6’0″ (that’s being generous) Morgan charged the 6’8″ Volstad and tried to throw a left punch but clearly didn’t have the reach.
As Morgan tried to latch on to Volstad, out of nowhere 1B Gaby Sanchez hit Morgan with what I thought was the “Flying Jalapeno,” which was Tito Santana’s (or what Bobby Heenan used to call it) finishing move. Upon further review, it appeared that Sanchez hit Morgan with a running lariat that would have made Stan “The Lariat” Hansen very proud.
Once the three players went to the ground, there was a big pile-up in the center of the diamond, and not much happened after that. Overall, I would give the brawl a six out of 10.
The one thing that did annoy me about this incident was how Morgan tried to play to the crowd and almost try to egg them on as he was leaving the field. When did Morgan turn into a punk?
When he was on Pittsburgh, we didn’t hear anything about him having a bad attitude or doing anything that would embarrass the organization. If he did indeed do something, I must have missed it.
Now Morgan is starting fights with fans, catchers, and other players. It’s really bizarre to me.
Major League Baseball will decide on Morgan’s fate on Friday. A five- to 10-game suspension on top of the seven-game suspension he is already appealing is likely.
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