The American Spectator

Casey Abell| 3.8.12 @ 10:39AM

Don't follow the NFL, so I haven't been paying much attention to this story. It seems to me that a lot of football players get paid for hurting people, anyway, as part of their job description.

But this hoohah does remind me of a story about a sport I do follow, baseball. Former AL umpire Ron Luciano had the plate for a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Billy Martin's Yankees. (This was back when the Brewers were in the AL.)

In the game the night before, future Hall of Famer Robin Yount had a great game as the Brewers won. So at the home plate meeting before the game, Martin told the Yankees manager and the four umpires that every time Yount batted, he would get a fastball at his head.

The umps just laughed and thought Martin was b.s.ing. But sure enough, when Yount batted in the first inning, the first pitch was a screamer right at his skull.

Luciano, no fan of Martin in the first place, got mad. He had seen Paul Blair's terrible beaning as the plate umpire. So he warned Martin.

The Brewers scored a bunch in the first, so Yount batted again in the second. Sure enough, the first pitch was another fastball right at the noggin. Luciano wanted to throw Martin out right then, but didn't.

Eventually one of the Yankee hitters got a high fastball, though it wasn't that close. Martin started screaming at Luciano about beanballs. As Luciano said, he finally threw Martin out for disturbing his peace.

The story is in one of Luciano's books, which are well worth reading. Sadly, Luciano committed suicide many years later. And managers still order pitchers to throw at hitters. Don't know if there are any bounties, though.

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Aaron Goldstein| 3.8.12 @ 10:52AM

I remember reading about the Martin-Yount incident in "The Umpire Strikes Back" which I just read a few months ago. My roomie Christopher bought it for me at a second hand book shop.

I don't think there are bounties in MLB. These things usually arise during game situations. Someone hits a homerun and jogs around the plate. Next time up the player gets hit with a pitch or gets brushed back with some chin music at the behest of the manager or sometimes the pitcher does it on his own and then the opposing team retaliates. Sometimes it ends there but sometimes it doesn't and these things can carry over the course of a season or multiple seasons.

But I cannot imagine a manager or a pitching coach paying his pitchers to deliberately throw at the heads of opposing batters. Nor can I imagine baserunners being similarly compensated for spiking a middle infielder as they slid into second base to break up a double play.

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W| 3.8.12 @ 11:44AM

I believe Dave Forbes, a thug for the Boston Bruins,deliberately hit Henry Boucha, of the Minnesota North Stars, in the head with his hockey stick.. Boucha developed serous vision and concussion-type injuries. Criminal charges were filed against Forbes, but don't recall the outcome.

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Aaron Goldstein| 3.8.12 @ 12:57PM

The court case against Forbes resulted in a hung jury and the charges were never refiled.

It would not be the last time an on ice incident would go to court. After future NHL Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli of the Minnesota North Stars repeatedly hit Toronto Maple Leafs defence man Luke Richardson over the head with his hockey stick during a game in 1988 at Maple Leaf Gardens, Crown prosecutors charged him with assault and he was convicted. Ciccarelli spent a day in jail and paid a $1,000 fine (Canadian dollars.)

More recently when Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks punched Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche from behind during a 2004 game it resulted in a broken neck and a severe concussion. These injuries would force Moore to retire from the game. Crown prosecutors in British Columbia filed criminal charges against Bertuzzi who agreed to a plea bargain resulting in probation and community service.

The hit on Moore was a bounty. It was done in retaliation for a head check against Markus Naslund for which no penalty was called in a game that took place a month earlier between the Avalanche and the Canucks.

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W| 3.8.12 @ 1:26PM

Thanks, Aaron. I do not recall any criminal charges in football or baseball. I remember Orlando Cepeda hitting John Roseboro in the head with a bat. In basketball Rudy Tomjanovich won a million dollar civil case against the player, don't recall his name, that sucker punched him.

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Aaron Goldstein| 3.8.12 @ 4:04PM

Actually, it was Juan Marichal, not Orlando Cepeda who hit Roseboro with the bat. Marichal and Roseboro would later become good friends and Roseboro pleaded with the BBWAA to not hold the incident against Marichal. However, the BBWAA opted not to induct Marichal in his first two years of eligibility before finally inducting him in 1983.

I do remember charges being brought against Al Cowens, an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, when he attacked Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Ed Farmer from behind during a game in 1980. The year before Farmer had hit Cowens in the face with a pitch and broken his jaw. Cowens was with the Kansas City Royals at the time. However, the charges were dropped when Farmer agreed to shake hands with Cowens at home plate.
Farmer currently does the radio play-by-play for the White Sox. Cowens died of a heart attack in 2002.

It was Kermit Washington who sucker punched Tomjanovich.

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