Famous Mayhem Brawls in MLB History

Discover the best of the bests benches CLEARING BRAWLS.

The seventh-inning brawl between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks was one recent example of this baseball reality, culminating in Ian Kennedy (D-Backs) drilling Zack Greinke (Dodgers), leading to a bench-clearing bout that resulted in punches thrown, several ejections, and an especially heated battle between Dodgers reliever J.P. Howell and D-Backs coach Turner Ward. Still, thiout s one probably won’t be discussed much past this season. The brawls that we’ll talk about for years to come (like what we’ve presented here) need to present the kind of brutality, chaos, and confusion that makes everyone watching say, “What the hell just happened?” These are the biggest, baddest, and most infamous brawls in the history of Major League Baseball.

1.Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) vs. Dave Winfield (San Diego Padres, Playing for Yankees In Above Image), 1980
Ryan’s first well-known fight pitted him against another eventual Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield. Ryan drilled Winfield but wasn’t prepared for a fight. Winfield charged and managed to land a punch on Ryan before tackling him to the ground. Both teams rushed to the mound, but by the time they arrived the bout was finished, with Ryan on the losing end.

2.The All-Out Brawl, Atlanta Braves vs San Diego Padres, 1984
This game was absolute mayhem from start to finish. The benches cleared four times and 13 players were ejected, along with both managers. As you might expect, the bean balls started early, as Braves starting pitcher Pascual Perez nailed Padres leadoff hitter Alan Wiggins to lead off the first inning. The Padres looked to retaliate in the second inning when Perez came to bat, resulting in the first bench-clearing incident. That got the bad blood flowing, and it never stopped. Even fans got involved with some of the fighting, jumping on the field and joining the action, and police at the event had to work hard to make sure the chaos didn’t spread to the stands.

3.Bert Campaneris (Oakland A’s) Hurls Bat at Lerrin LaGrow (Detroit Tigers), 1972
This one came about under somewhat bizarre circumstances. Not only did it involve a player getting hit on a low pitch (clearly not a bean ball), but the batter, Bert Campaneris, decided to use his bat as a weapon in retaliation. Knocked to the ground by the pitch, Campaneris immediately got up and hurled his bat back at pitcher Lerrin LaGrow’s head. LaGrow ducked in time, avoiding what could’ve been a serious injury.

4.Nolan Ryan (Texas Rangers) Beats Down Robin Ventura (Chicago White Sox), 1993
One of the most famous, well-known brawls in MLB history went down in the hot Texas summer of 1993. This turned out to be the last high-profile moment in Nolan Ryan’s illustrious Hall of Fame pitching career, which would end only a couple of months later. At 46, he was not only tossing near-100 mph fastballs—he was also ready to beat up any kid dumb enough to challenge him to a fight. A pitch got away from Ryan and hit the 26-year-old Robin Ventura, who hesitated a moment before deciding to charge the mound on the old man. Ventura tried to lead with his shoulder, so Ryan wrapped him up in a headlock and gave him a royal beat down, until both teams mobbed the mound and put a stop to it. The takeaway: Respect your elders, kids.

5.Chan Ho Park’s (Los Angeles Dodgers) Kick, 1999
Against the crosstown rival Anaheim Angels, L.A. Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park laid a sacrifice bunt up the first base line and bolted for first. The ensuing tag by opposing pitcher Tim Belcher, however, was a bit too enthusiastic for Park’s taste, and he went after Belcher with a rarely seen drop kick. Both benches cleared, but the real damage had been done.

6.Armando Benitez (Baltimore Orioles) Drills Tino Martinez (New York Yankees), 1998
After giving up a three-run homer in the eighth that gave the Yankees the lead, hotheaded reliever Armando Benitez looked to bean the next batter, Tino Martinez. Tino got nailed in the upper back, and both teams poured of their respective dugouts. This basically turned out to be a Yanks vs. Benitez brawl, as several Yankees looked to break through the wall of Orioles players to get some payback. First, it was Australian reliever Graeme Lloyd rushing in from the bullpen, taking some wild cuts at Benitez, along with some involvement from third baseman Scott Brosius and reliever Jeff Nelson. The most memorable moment came from Darryl Strawberry, who somehow managed to break loose and land a well-deserved cheap-shot punch to Benitez’s face. Torre had to restrain Strawberry and escort him back to the Yankee dugout, bringing about huge cheers from the home crowd. The ’98 Yanks would go on to win the World Series that year in historic fashion, winning an all-time high 125 games in total.

7. Vaughn (Boston Red Sox) Takes Down Charging George Bell (Chicago White Sox), 1993
George Bell charged the mound after an errant pitch by Red Sox pitcher Aaron Sele sailed behind his head. Bell threw a wild punch at Sele and missed, only to be leveled by Red Sox first baseman Mo Vaughn. Vaughn’s momentum slammed Bell to the ground, ending the fight before the rest of the players could join in.

8.An Old-Fashioned Yankees–Red Sox Slugfest, 1976
This fight was the culmination of years of Yanks–Red Sox animosity, or, to be more specific, Yanks–Bill Lee animosity. Three years earlier, the often-inflammatory Lee had described the Yankees lineup as a “bunch of hookers swinging their purses.” The Bronx Bombers never forgot, and Lee never stopped running his mouth. The brawl came about after a huge home plate collision between the Yanks’ Lou Piniella and Sox catcher Carlton Fisk. Fisk held onto the ball for the out, but the intense impact brought about a scuffle between the two players. Everyone else got involved right after, including Lee, who was punched by Mickey Rivers, and later smashed to the ground by Graig Nettles, resulting in a left shoulder injury that sent him to the disabled list for a few months.

9.Pedro Martinez (Boston Red Sox) Throws Down Coach Don Zimmer (New York Yankees), 2003
Emotions ran high in this playoff brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox, tipped off in the top of the fourth inning by a bean ball thrown by Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez. The Yankees’ Karim Garcia took a fastball to the back, apparently due to Pedro’s frustration at having just given up the lead. Trying to avoid an immediate brawl, the home plate umpire warned both benches, but a hard take-out slide at second base only a few minutes later brought both teams out. Even so, the most bizarre occurrence came about in the bottom half of the fourth after Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens threw up and in to Manny Ramirez, again clearing the benches. This time, enraged Yankees coach Don Zimmer charged at Pedro Martinez, forgetting the fact for a moment that he was 72 years old. Martinez sidestepped Zim, grabbed him by the face, and tossed him to the ground. Obviously, Zim shouldn’t have charged, but did Martinez really need to drop him like a sack of potatoes?

10.Mike Sweeney (Kansas City Royals) Runs Down Jeff Weaver (Detroit Tigers), 2001
Speaking of those, “Wait, what the hell happened?” sort of fights. Everything looked totally normal, and then Mike Sweeney is racing at Jeff Weaver like a linebacker trying to pancake the quarterback. Apparently Tigers pitcher Weaver said something insulting to Royals first baseman Sweeney after the Royals asked the umps to examine his resin bag for the second time in the game. Sweeney charged immediately at an unsuspecting Weaver, hurling his helmet at him and ripping him down with a tackle before the rest of each team joined the fray.

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