Every year on August 4, Twitter lights up and makes “Nolan Ryan” or “Robin Ventura” trend, because on this date in 1993, one of the most infamous baseball fights of all time occurred in Texas.
Twenty-seven years ago, 46-year-old Ryan (with the Texas Rangers) beaned Gold Glove third baseman Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox in the arm, which probably didn’t come as much of a surprise, since those were the days when both teams were still in the same division and harbored some bad blood.
Ventura thought about going to first for a few seconds, but elected to charge the mound instead, thinking he’d pound the old man in front of an entire stadium, much like what Pedro Martinez would one day do to Don Zimmer.
But things didn’t go that way for Ventura, who was immediately placed in a headlock by Ryan, looking nothing like a man approaching fifty years old. As Ryan, who amazingly was not ejected from the game, rained blows upon Ventura’s head, the benches cleared and the fight was eventually broken up, but the fight would become an instant classic.
“I’m all right,” Ventura would say at the time, trying to brush it all off, likely knowing deep down what really just happened. “He gave me a couple of noogies, but that was about it.”
It seems like every year, a new little nugget of trivia comes out about this fight, and the video never gets old. As far as basebrawls go, it truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Check out the entire sequence here and try not to get amped up:
I used to write for the Associated Press in Cleveland when Robin Ventura was the manager for the White Sox. He was one of the nicer guys I ever worked with, and one of the best interviews on a daily basis. Always very accommodating.
But every time I stood there with my recorder in his face, the temptation to ask about the encounter would creep into my mind, seep into every crevice of my brain, begging – demanding – that I bring up Nolan Ryan. I’d never do it, maybe out of fear that Ventura would exact his revenge on me. But I doubt that, because I’d love to tell the story that Robin Ventura beat the shit out of me in a dugout. Save for a chance encounter, I fear I’ve lost my chance for that to happen.
The 1993 season would be Nolan Ryan’s last, and despite his many accomplishments on the field, I love that this is the one most people choose to remember. I’ve seen Ryan’s signature on photos of the infamous beatdown, but nothing from Ventura – so far. That will forever be one of my white whale items for my sports collection.
If I mail Ventura a copy of the photo once a week for the rest of our lives, I should probably one day get one back, right?