We’ve all seen it: Someone gets hit by a pitch, or some other scuffle happens, two players go at it, and before you know it, both team’s benches are rushing out onto the field (either to defuse the conflict, or pour some more gasoline on the fire.)
Now, is it considered wrong (in team culture) for a player to just sit in the dugout and ***not ***help his buddies out by participating in a brawl?
Yes, it’s wrong. He can still not help his buddies by at least standing up or running onto the field even if he doesn’t participate in the brawl. That’s mostly what the players are doing anyway. It’s about appearances, the players need to appear to be supporting their teammates, but they are also professional athletes who know brawling is stupidly risking injury, fines, and suspensions
You’ll see a lot of guys trot out there and find someone on the other team to pair up with and just kind of grapple each other, so it’s not like you’re expected to really fight.
There was an incident in '86 when George Foster didn’t leave the dugout when his Mets teammates were involved in a brawl, explaining later that he was Christian and considered himself a role model for kids. It was a factor in his being released from the team a couple weeks later.
We had a football case, back many years ago, when local pro football was a bit more violent, and brawls could be pretty full on.
While all the other players were brawling, two opposing players up the other end just had a bit of a kick-to-kick while they waited for play to resume. Everybody watching just thought it was very sweet. But if one of the players had run in, the other would have had to follow. You can’t stand out while your opposition is getting a hit in.
In one of the weirdest cases of playing the race card, Foster claimed his benching and subsequent release was because he was black.
The guy who replaced him was Kevin Mitchell, who was black.
It also depends on the level of play.
For example, in the NCAA, in baseball, clearing the dugout to participate in a fight is an automatic four game suspension; in basketball, leaving the bench is an automatic ejection even if the player does not participate in the fight (if the player does, one-game suspension for the first offense in a season, and a season-long suspension for the second one); in football, leaving the bench area to participate in a fight is an ejection (and, if it happens in the second half of a game, suspension from the first half of the next game) for the first offense, and a season-long suspension for the second one.
72 year old coach Don Zimmer tried to get into a fight with Pedro Martinez but he was shoved to the ground.
NHL suspends anyone who leaves the bench to join a fight. I think for 5 games.
My favourite story about in-game fighting (or ‘handbags’ as we call it here in Aus) concerned a rugby match where it all kicked off - except for the 2 full-backs, who stayed in their respective postions at either end of the field, 40-50 metres from the acxtion.
When it had calmed down and order restored, the ref called the 2 full-backs into the middle of the field and sent them both off. When they protested 'What are you sending us off for? We were the only two not fighting!", the ref replied ‘Cowardice’.
This reminds me of this fantastic photograph of a brawl between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates that took place I think a year ago —
This photo actually makes my mouth water, because it reminds me of ketchup and mustard on a ballpark frankfurter.
The suspense and drama of a hockey goalie fight is one of the sport’s most epic battles. Because of the penalties for coming off the bench, hockey fights have to take place with the players on the ice. The slow skate forward from the net, the recognition across the rink, the squaring off and shedding of gear, and the general awkwardness of trying to fight wearing all that padding, and the rarity make for must see TV.
No, just a game misconduct if they leave the bench to start or join a fight
If you had been ordered to the penalty box or dressing room by the ref and come back on the ice for ANY reason, then you get the 10 games
I don’t understand why baseball doesn’t drop the hammer and end the bench clearing brawls. Hockey did it.
I don’t understand why hockey did do it.
It’s funny that it’s considered wrong to be the one guy who stays in the bullpen when all of your teammates have run out to a brawl on the field. But it’s apparently not considered to be wrong to be the one guy who runs out to the field to start a brawl when all of your teammates are still in the bullpen. Solidarity seems to be a one-way street.
It is funny. It is the team thing, heavily tied to the “guy code”: “I’ll come with you so we can both get our ass kicked”. So everybody has to do it, but they don’t really want to. The guys who started it do get penalized, but as you point out, they may be the only ones who did any actual brawling while the rest get slapped for really only getting a closer look.
I don’t know why baseball has this ‘tradition’.
It sets a poor example to youngsters.
There are penalties for brawling in almost every sport.
For those that don’t know fighting is way down in the NHL. Teams no longer want to pay for a guy who just fights, the pay is too high now for that. Fighting still happens more in lower leagues such as the ECHL , vast majority of those guys will never make the NHL.
A NHL player with a game misconduct can also be suspended. If the fighters are also given a a match penalty, that is an automatic suspension and the league determines the length.
In baseball, the pitcher has a near absolute advantage in inflicting punishment on the other team. Yes, they will be ejected and the benches warned, but the damage is already done. Fights are more likely when there’s a clear imbalance like that.
The fact is that baseball fights are about the wimpiest fights known to man, with a few rare but spectacular exceptions. They look wild but if you take a closer look most of the action is pushing and shoving, with the majority of players just holding players back or pairing up for a tango. I don’t believe players get hurt very often in those bench clearing brawls so the pressure to fix it is fairly low.
Taiwan baseball league has only 5 teams but they are playing with no fans. And they had a brawl.
The fact that the enraged batter has to first run a long distance in order to get to the pitcher has always been the funniest aspect of it.
It’s the six additional inches after the sixty feet that raise the bar from merely amusing to uproarious.