Sounds like you were around for the Sal ‘The Barber’ Maglie, Carl Erskine, Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale eras.
Today they ‘warn’ both benches if an Ump even thinks a close pitch was deliberate. AND after the first warning all a batter has to do is grimace on a curve and it can be deemed done on purpose SO the P and MGR get bounced...
Remember Bryce Harper’s 1st season when Cole Hamels hit him, Bryce retaliated with stealing home on HIM. Next at bat Harper bunted up the first base line - towards the moundish.
I still think that if all went as planned, HARPER would have run up HAMELS’ back - HARD, VERY HARD....I am sure the participants believed it also as Davey was ‘smiling’ and Hamels said after the game he hit Harper on purpose....Dumb remark that gave him a ‘mini-vacation’ in the middle of summer.
No, all that was waaay before my time. Not that I don’t appreciate it. Closest I’ve seen to that stuff was probably Pedro and juice head Clemens. Warnings are 90% dumb, but the 162 game season usually takes care of it anyhow as far as retaliation. If not that season the next.
I’m a huge Bryce Harper fan. I saw that game on MASN. He would have plowed Cole he had got it down right. Hamels is scratched for tomorrow’s game, not that he would see Bryce anyhow.
Bryce can be his own worst enemy, he didn’t get over to first out of frustration. Yeah he might be tender but even loping down there is better than that. They had a meeting a few days before about the now changed transfer rule and having to get down to first in case the first baseman drops it when he steps off. Bryce got frustrated and peeled off after dogging it, he would have been automatically out in the dugout. Williams showed guts doing it. No problems, young player with lots of pressure on him. Hopefully a learning experience.
Freegards