Of all of Nolan Ryan's achievements, few garnered more attention than the second skirmish between Ryan and veteran third baseman Robin Ventura in The fight has come to symbolize his Texas toughness, and it made Ryan a symbol of middle-age defiance. Much has been made about the "Ventura Fight" but most don't realize its roots started three years earlier in Florida. In the s, Chicago's Craig Grebeck was one of baseball's smallest everyday players.
Just 5'7", he compensated for his lack of stature with the attitude of Goliath. During a spring training game against the Rangers in , Grebeck hit a home run on the first pitch and pumped his fists triumphantly as he jogged around the bases. Sitting on the Rangers bench, Ryan stared at the Lilliputian and made a mental note.
A few months later the Rangers were at Comiskey Park. Ryan was on the mound, and Grebeck hit a home run off him. As he had in Florida, Grebeck whooped it up rounding the bases.
When Ryan got back to the bench, he asked pitching coach Tom House, "Who is that boy? Nolan hits him right in the friggin' back. Grebeck was 0-for the rest of the year off him. He even had his hitters dive toward the plate in order to cover the outside corner.
His fastball spent so much time on the outside half it could have taken up residence there. But if you're going to take away half of the plate that I want, you're gonna pay. They had a philosophy that didn't quite fit in with Nolan's philosophy, and we had three or four fights with them, because Nolan would pitch into hitters that were diving. Robin Ventura disagrees. It wasn't batting stances that caused the friction, he says, but a good old-fashioned bean-ball war. We weren't the only team doing it.
It was the kind of pitch that was getting called, so you just had to be able to go out and get it. The night before the fight, on August 3, the White Sox manhandled the Rangers 11—6.
Ryan was slated to start the following day against Alex Fernandez. In the Rangers' half of the second, Fernandez hit Rangers leadoff batter Juan Gonzalez on a pitch. When Ventura came up again in the third frame, Ryan's first pitch plunked him on the back. Robin was starting toward first base when he abruptly turns and charges the mound instead.
And the closer he got to Nolan, the bigger he looked. If you watch it in stop action, you can see Ryan's eyes were like a deer's in a headlight. Three punches right on Ventura's noggin!
Holtz fell ill in and eventually revealed he had cancer, leaving the broadcast booth on May He died on September 7, Wetteland played four seasons for the Rangers from Wetteland saved games for the Rangers in four seasons, helping them to a pair of AL West crowns. August 4, Ron Washington won game No. Are we missing a moment from this day in Texas Rangers history?
Hit us up on Twitter PostinsPostcard and let us know what to add. Sign Up Today! Game Day. You remember what happened. Ventura ducked his head, right into the arms of the Texas Rangers legend. Ryan put the year-old Ventura in a headlock and started pummeling.
Ventura now is Older than Ryan was when he landed six uppercuts to Ventura's face before they were engulfed by players from both teams at old Arlington Stadium. The anniversary was widely celebrated south of the Red River. Ryan won games, recorded a major league record 5, strikeouts and pitched seven no-hitters.
Yet none are as renowned as that August night when he put a beating on the Chicago White Sox' star. But Ventura has a message for all those who wondered how he recovered from Aug. And a good one. Ventura, an Oklahoma State star from , played 16 major league seasons, with 1, hits and home runs.
He didnt just want to make it to the major leagues, he wanted to excel at the sport and play the game right.
Ventura was a perfect example of this type of ballplayer; a model citizen who probably drank milk and called his mother every day — or at least that was the image of Ventura at the time. It was just a brief meeting, but Robin made an impression on the team, and specifically on that one player who would eventually fulfill his dream of baseball, later becoming one of the game's biggest stars.
Things went a little haywire in the game. The White Sox and Rangers hadn't been getting along at the time. Alex Fernandez plunked Texas slugger Juan Gonzalez the inning before. If Ryan wanted to retaliate as he often did , Ventura was the logical target because his single in the first inning gave the Sox a lead.
But even before the game began right around the time he met with the young Olympians about sportsmanship , Ventura told his teammates that if he got hit, he was going to charge the mound no matter who was out there. Did seeing Ventura go after one of the best, most respected players in the game change his opinion of him?
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