Brawls rarely happen in baseball, so when one does occur, people tend to take notice.
That’s what happened this weekend when Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson squared up with Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, with the latter getting the better of the bout.
The Anderson-Ramirez kerfuffle reminded many of the incident between the Texas Rangers’ Rougned Odor and Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista back in 2016.
After Bautista’s bat flip in the 2015 ALDS, the Blue Jays assumed there would be some sort of retaliation the following year.
Former Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons talked about the leadup to the Odor-Bautista fight while appearing on Audacy’s original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” on Monday.
“We played them seven times in a two-week period. The first (four) games were at home, nothing happened, then we go down to Texas and finish off the series,” Gibbons said (11:00 in player above). “His last at-bat of the last game, they drill him – someone who wasn’t even involved in the series.
“To me that was the most gutless thing. If you’re really serious about that get him in his first at-bat, let’s see how tough you are.”
“We didn’t think anything was going to happen because it had taken so long,” Gibbons recalled. “It’s the last game. Apparently, they’re smart, they found their senses.”
Gibbons and Bautista knew something would be coming. The two had a conversation before playing the Rangers and Bautista said if he got hit he would simply take his base.
That’s exactly what happened, but then Bautista had his chance at retaliation.
“It really lined up perfectly,” Gibbons continued. “When hitters would get drilled, if they didn’t charge the mound they’d go to first base and those middle infielders are hoping don’t hit a ground ball whatever you do because that guy on first, that’s his retaliation. He’s going to kill one of the middle infielders.”
And the rest is history.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram