Palmer, Blyleven, and Gossage on when to plunk the batter

digicat · May 5, 2010 6:41AM

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&page=starting9/100505

Gossage's answers are the best.

AkbarClone · May 5, 2010 6:47AM

I have some sports cards and memorabilia from all three of those pitchers, but don't actively collect them.

hotmush · May 5, 2010 7:02AM

Heh heh.

Dboneesq · May 5, 2010 7:13AM

Digi ... thanks for the LINK ... fun reading!

digicat · May 5, 2010 7:38AM

<< I have some sports cards and memorabilia from all three of those pitchers, but don't actively collect them. >>

And you're being a hall monitor because... ?

TNP777 · May 5, 2010 7:39AM

fantastic Q&A - I could read stuff like that all day long. Thanks for the link!

gumbyfan · May 5, 2010 7:56AM

<< And you're being a hall monitor because... ? >>

Bill was banned.

jivan · May 5, 2010 7:56AM

what a great read.. made me smile the entire time..

GDM67 · May 5, 2010 8:15AM

Three great looking rookies. Happily, they each got their own individual cards instead of being one of several pea-sized floating heads.

Although that might have been appropriate for Goose...

jmoran19 · May 5, 2010 8:16AM

Digicat, those are some nice 7's!!

and5zac · May 5, 2010 9:18AM

great read! Acouple nights ago Andrew McCutchen hits a homerun and next time up they threw at his head,next inning their pitcher comes up to bat and Zach Duke does nothing!McCutchen was real mad and I don't blame him.They should have cut Duke right there.If you don.t stand up for teammates you lose all respect and it stays with you no matter where you go. Lou

WalterSobchak · May 5, 2010 10:24AM

That was an enjoyable read. Thanks.

pdub1819 · May 5, 2010 1:15PM

I wish baseball was played more like the old days.

hotmush · May 5, 2010 2:02PM

Surprised to see their responses on the big rip on an 0-3 pitch. Never really considered that a slight before.
I mean, even if you are down 10 runs, a big homer will put you back in it a little, if not score-wise then mentally.
Comebacks have to start somewhere.
EDITED TO SAY: misread the question. Yup. Totally piling on.

digicat · May 5, 2010 4:55PM

<< Surprised to see their responses on the big rip on an 3-0 pitch. Never really considered that a slight before. >>

The question was "How offended are you if a hitter takes a big rip at a 3-0 pitch when his team is way ahead?" I'm guessing that that's considered "piling on", kinda like a stealing bases in the 8th or 9th with the lead during a blowout.

toc1000 · May 5, 2010 7:29PM

Both Gossage and Blyleven sound like jerks who throw at ppl for any perceived slight (a lot that exists only in their low-IQ heads.)

Beaning a batter is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be done except maybe in retaliation.

Garabaldi · May 5, 2010 11:34PM

That is a great read and it is funny to see the different personalities with three great pitchers. I bet they would have even more hits batsmen now adays with the armour and the batters showing off.

mccardguy1 · May 6, 2010 4:01AM

<< Both Gossage and Blyleven sound like jerks who throw at ppl for any perceived slight (a lot that exists only in their low-IQ heads.)

Beaning a batter is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be done except maybe in retaliation. >>

You need to read up on your baseball history! This is the way the game was played back then and the game would do well to go back to its roots today!! A few suggestions on players to read up on...Drysdale, Koufax and Bob Gibson to name just a very small few. If you think Gossage and Blyleven are idots you will think the other 3 I mentioned were lunatics!

72skywalker · May 6, 2010 4:07AM

<< Both Gossage and Blyleven sound like jerks who throw at ppl for any perceived slight (a lot that exists only in their low-IQ heads.)

Beaning a batter is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be done except maybe in retaliation. >>

If beaning a batter is extremely dangerous, why is it OK if done in retaliation. That is like saying trying to hit someone with your car is dangerous but it is OK if the person made you mad or did something to you first. It is either dangerous and should not be done ever or is is OK. You can't have both.

TheVon · May 6, 2010 6:51AM

Palmer's responses irritated me. I don't like him as a broadcaster and now I think less of who he was as a player.

I might just go start a Gossage registry set though. That guy is cool.

toc1000 · May 6, 2010 8:08PM

<< You need to read up on your baseball history! This is the way the game was played back then and the game would do well to go back to its roots today!! A few suggestions on players to read up on...Drysdale, Koufax and Bob Gibson to name just a very small few. If you think Gossage and Blyleven are idots you will think the other 3 I mentioned were lunatics! >>

I know the history. And these ppl openly discuss how they throw 95mph, 100mph at batters for no reason.

"Dude jogs around the bases a bit too slow. Bean him."

"Dude swung at my hanging 3-0 pitch. Bean him."

"Dude jogs around the bases with his head up. Bean him."

"Dude just dis(respected) me by walking across the mound. Bean him."

"Dude shows a bit too much emotion after a homerun. Bean him."

"Dude's team is winning 17-0; if he doesn't hurry and pop out, bean him."

... and that's not counting the dlckhead pitchers like Benitez who bean batters next at-bat for hitting a homerun.

mccardguy1 · May 7, 2010 12:50AM

<< 

<< You need to read up on your baseball history! This is the way the game was played back then and the game would do well to go back to its roots today!! A few suggestions on players to read up on...Drysdale, Koufax and Bob Gibson to name just a very small few. If you think Gossage and Blyleven are idots you will think the other 3 I mentioned were lunatics! >>

I know the history. And these ppl openly discuss how they throw 95mph, 100mph at batters for no reason.

"Dude jogs around the bases a bit too slow. Bean him."

"Dude swung at my hanging 3-0 pitch. Bean him."

"Dude jogs around the bases with his head up. Bean him."

"Dude just dis(respected) me by walking across the mound. Bean him."

"Dude shows a bit too much emotion after a homerun. Bean him."

"Dude's team is winning 17-0; if he doesn't hurry and pop out, bean him."

... and that's not counting the dlckhead pitchers like Benitez who bean batters next at-bat for hitting a homerun. >>

Did you ever play the game at a higher level than Little League?? If you did I think you would know what they were talking about!

TNP777 · May 7, 2010 1:01AM

<< 

<< You need to read up on your baseball history! This is the way the game was played back then and the game would do well to go back to its roots today!! A few suggestions on players to read up on...Drysdale, Koufax and Bob Gibson to name just a very small few. If you think Gossage and Blyleven are idots you will think the other 3 I mentioned were lunatics! >>

I know the history. And these ppl openly discuss how they throw 95mph, 100mph at batters for no reason.

"Dude jogs around the bases a bit too slow. Bean him."

"Dude swung at my hanging 3-0 pitch. Bean him."

"Dude jogs around the bases with his head up. Bean him."

"Dude just dis(respected) me by walking across the mound. Bean him."

"Dude shows a bit too much emotion after a homerun. Bean him."

"Dude's team is winning 17-0; if he doesn't hurry and pop out, bean him."

... and that's not counting the dlckhead pitchers like Benitez who bean batters next at-bat for hitting a homerun. >>

put down your purse, Alice. Like it or not, that's the way the game has always been played, and it works. Also, at no point in the interview was beaning (which I and everyone else interprets as hitting someone in the head) an option for the offenses you mentioned. A nice fastball from the shoulders on down has always done the trick - message sent, message received, off we go.

digicat · May 7, 2010 1:45AM

When's the last time someone got injured or killed from an intentional beaning?

divecchia · May 7, 2010 3:13AM

Great read, thanks for the link...

Donato

digicat · May 7, 2010 4:31AM

Speaking of "plunk the batter", I think A-Rod's got a target on him now.

Oakland's Dallas Braden painted it.

HeritageSports · May 7, 2010 8:02AM

I'm a huge Yankees fan but I'm realistic about A-Rod and I'm not going to say I've loved everything he's done. In other words, I'd defend him on this point even if he was not a Yankee. This Braden guy needs to lighten up a bit. It wasn't particularly cool what A-Rod did and he shouldn't have crossed the mound, but doesn't it seem like Braden's level of anger (DefCon 3 meltdown) was a bit disproportionate to the offense? Yelling "I got it" to the opposing infielders on that high pop fly (can't remember which team it was) was a far more serious offense, but those guys weren't half as mad.

digicat · May 7, 2010 8:21AM

Braden's packing a career .425 win percentage and a 1.413 WHIP.

By barking at A-Rod and trashing him in the press, he's found a way to make people notice him.

toc1000 · May 7, 2010 10:22AM

<< put down your purse, Alice. Like it or not, that's the way the game has always been played, and it works. Also, at no point in the interview was beaning (which I and everyone else interprets as hitting someone in the head) an option for the offenses you mentioned. A nice fastball from the shoulders on down has always done the trick - message sent, message received, off we go. >>

Gossage pretty blatantly played up beaning as a macho thing. Several no-neck commenters here seem to agree.

It's the opposite: to start a fight 9 v. 1 on the field 60-feet away is weak, cowardly, and unmanly.

fkw · May 7, 2010 10:43AM

A batter that digs in is a dangerous hitter....

A tight pitch every once in a while to remind him..... will keep him light on his feet and from diving over plate, and you will be a BETTER pitcher.

Sliders at the hip work too (lefty to lefty). Not many besides Bonds could hit right after good chin music or a buckler

Before I thought I could kill a batter.... I used to LOVE throwing at the other teams coach's son, if the coach was an A$$

PS I WAS from their Era, drafted 1985

toc1000 · May 7, 2010 10:56AM

Just fyi, I don't mean throwing inside to establish a zone (I think that's tnp777's reading mis-comprehension of the ESPN article), but in beaning a batter.

Gossage is talking about throwing *at* batters with the intent of nailing them, not to use the full zone, to lessen their zone of comfort.

digicat · May 7, 2010 11:17AM

<< several no-neck commenters here seem to agree. >>

Classy.

<< It's the opposite: to start a fight 9 v. 1 on the field 60-feet away is weak, cowardly, and unmanly >>

The batter and the 24 guys on his bench can get into the mix faster than the Pitcher's bench and outfielders can.

toc1000 · May 7, 2010 2:30PM

Suppose you were to throw a solid, hard object at an innocent person standing on the street at 95mph. You would have commit assault (and battery if it hits; and assault with a deadly weapon if serious injury).

How is this behavior sporting?? How is it manly???

In baseball, this behavior is even more despicable becuz the criminal:
1) is also a sneak because he hopes the spectators won't guess his true motive (and justly retaliate)
2) knows the batter, now dazed and injured, is unlikely to retaliate since he must sprint 60 feet into a gang of 9 men (the batter will get blindside from left by third-baseman, from the right by first-baseman, from behind by catcher. )

grote15 · May 7, 2010 2:38PM

For a so-called old school "tough" guy, I've always found Gossage to be a whiner and a complainer..He's also one of the weakest members of the HOF, but to hear him tell it, you'd think that all the voters were clueless not to have voted him in first ballot.

digicat · May 7, 2010 3:34PM

<< How is this behavior sporting?? How is it manly??? >>

How "manly" is it to run around in tights?

The knock-down pitch has been an acceptable part of the game since the begining.

If you don't like it, you don't have to play or watch.

toc1000 · May 7, 2010 3:57PM

<< 

<< How is this behavior sporting?? How is it manly??? >>

How "manly" is it to run around in tights?

The knock-down pitch has been an acceptable part of the game since the begining.

If you don't like it, you don't have to play or watch. >>

But it's not accepted. That's why players are thrown out of the game & suspended. And in a sandlot game, deliberately bean people and you've got a real fistfight, except the other dude's now got an aluminum bat in hand.

(Baseball players don't wear ballerina-style tights - the real tights that hug the crotch. Baseball uniforms don't form-fit that way.)

TNP777 · May 7, 2010 4:11PM

again with the beaning thing - is your definition of 'beaning' simply hitting a batter, or is it what everyone else defines it as - hitting a batter in the head? You really seem to be stuck on that word.

as far as whether it's accepted or not, 'beaning', or hitting someone in the head, is never acceptable when it's done on purpose - that's chicken(beeeeeeep). Accidental 'beanings' are awful, and thankfully rare.

You may think hitting batters for the reasons expressed in the article are wrong, but they've been part of the game for as long as it's been played, and will continue to be - the vast majority of baseball fans find nothing wrong with the practice. Act like an ass at the plate, or when running the bases, and you or one of your teammates will need to step lively at the plate.

btw, is grote the only dude with a coin avatar who's not a combative whackjob? I'm sure there are a few more, but they're a rare breed.

nightcrawler · May 7, 2010 4:50PM

To bean, or not to bean?

grote15 · May 7, 2010 5:04PM

btw, is grote the only dude with a coin avatar who's not a combative whackjob? I'm sure there are a few more, but they're a rare breed.

Thanks....I think, LOL..

rlange5 · May 7, 2010 8:59PM

As a catcher if I caught a baserunner trying to relay signs to the batter I would give the sign, yes we did have a sign, to hit the batter. This send a message to the whole team that that kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated. I could have polietly asked the batter to let his team know that they should not be doing that, but getting hit was a much more powerful message. Like it or not, batters get hit for many reasons, that is how the game is played.

Bob

Palmer, Blyleven, and Gossage on when to plunk the batter

Comments