Most people consider baseball a civilized and peaceful sport, almost to a fault. Its natural passivity was put on hold briefly Tuesday night however, when Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura decided to drill Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado in the back with a fastball.
Machado immediately dropped his bat and helmet and stomped up to the mound, with Ventura throwing down his hat and glove, a scene you’d expect to see on a hockey rink rather than a baseball diamond. The pair began throwing punches at each other, soon falling to the ground as the benches cleared and players swarmed around them in an all-out brawl. Check out video of the fight below:
“I don't regret anything,” Machado told The Baltimore Sun afterwards. “It's part of the game. Reactions fly. When somebody's throwing 99 [miles per hour] at you, it's going to hurt. You can ruin someone's career. You don't think in that situation. You just react to it. It happened. Whatever happened, happened. You just have to move forward.”
Both players were ejected from the game and will most likely receive hefty fines, if not suspensions. After the game, Orioles outfielder Adam Jones expressed his disgust at Ventura’s actions and commended his teammate’s reaction.
“You throw 100 miles per hour and you are trying to hurt someone intentionally, that is not part of the game,” Jones said. “I’m glad for Manny for defending himself. Screw it, defend yourself. Someone is trying to hurt you maliciously, you go out there and defend yourself.”
“I knew it was going to happen,” Jones went on to say. “The guy [Ventura] has electric stuff and the talent is all there, but between the ears, there is a circuit board off balance.”
As Jones alluded, this is far from the first time a situation involving Ventura has led to on-the-field fisticuffs. In April 2015 alone, Ventura was the center of three altercations with three different teams.
While young players should not be discouraged to play with passion, a pattern of unruly, even violent behavior like this cannot be tolerated in America’s pastime. One can only hope Ventura, just 25 years old, will learn his lesson before he gets into truly serious trouble.