June 14, 2002
The Retaliation Myth:
Jordan Ellel points me to this article by Joe Morgan. Toward the end, he makes a comment about intimidators Gibson and Drysdale:
In Baker's estimation, Clemens would be dodging pitches in the National League because he throws at too many hitters. Bonds became the 132nd batter Clemens has hit during his career, ranking him first among active pitchers. But Clemens, in 20 total plate appearances, has never been hit by a major-league pitch.
Like Clemens, Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale were intimidators on the mound. At the same time, they stood at the plate and took their lumps -- and that is the way it should be. Gibson was hit eight times in his career and Drysdale five times.
Bob Gibson hit 102 batters in his career. He was hit 8 times. Where's the retaliation? Where are teammates following the unwritten rule? Drysdale hit 154 batters and he was hit 5 times. That's taking your lumps? That's detering these famous headhunters from throwing at batters?
This whole issue is bogus. I'm going to have to do the research later, but my guess is that with or without the DH, retaliation has never been against the pitcher. It's been against the first guy up in the next inning, or the start slugger if your star slugger got hit. And that's exactly what happened in the game where Piazza got hit. Tino Martinez led off the next inning, and was plunked by Rusch. End of story.
This is all Bobby Valentine, the NY press, and former players who never look at statistics before they shoot their mouths off. If Estes wants to hit Clemens, he should be thrown out of the game. There is no unwritten rule here that requires him to do that. He's just buying into the hate of his manager. Don't give in to the dark side, Shawn!
Posted by David Pinto at
01:14 PM
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Baseball
