Hi this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “…brought to you by Auto Logic, the Logical Choice.
Earlier this month, the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals had a beanball festival with players being buzzed or struck by pitches on both sides.
The plunkings, the retaliation and the post game comments from the Jays and the Royals were highly entertaining; but it was nothing compared to my favorite Big League story where a purpose pitch was involved……
On May 1st, 1974, Dock Ellis started for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Cincinnati Reds.
Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine of the day was a baseball powerhouse having won the NLCS in 1970 and 1972, before being upset in the 1973 final by the Mets.
Ellis, who was somewhat of a free spirit, sometimes aided by drug consumption, was nonetheless bothered by talk that suggested the Pirates were ” intimidated ” by the Reds.
In the top of the first inning, Ellis hit the leadoff batter, Pete Rose.
With Rose at first and nobody out, Ellis drilled Joe Morgan who batted second.
With Rose now at second base and Morgan at first, Ellis reared back and smoked the third batter, Dan Driessen, to load the bases.
Cleanup batter Tony Prez was next, but knowing what was unfolding, Perez somehow managed to avoid 4 attempts by Ellis to nail him, which drew a walk and forced in a Cincinnati run and left the bases still loaded.
The great Johnny Bench was next for the Reds, and Ellis threw two more pitches towards the head of Bench which prompted Pirates Manager Danny Murtaugh to scurry onto the field and remove Dock Ellis from the game.
The linescore for Ellis was 3 hit Reds batters, walked another one and left with the bases loaded and a 2 ball count on Johnny Bench.
Amazing….
What’s more amazing, the Reds only got the 1 run that inning and later needed a 3 run outburst to beat Pittsburgh 5-3.
The Jays and Royals of August 2015 were intense, no question, but not nearly as memorable as Dock Ellis was more than 40 years ago for the Pirates against the Reds.
I’m Fred Wallace