Happy Birthday to Robin Ventura

Known throughout baseball circles as the guy who got pummeled by 46-year old Nolan Ryan on August 4th, 1993, Ventura was a two-time All Star and six time Gold Glove winner at third base, playing for the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Playing a total of 16 seasons in the Big Leagues, Ventura had a .267 career batting average, 1,885 hits, 294 home runs and 1,182 RBI.

However, despite anything he did in his career, he will always be remembered as Nolan Ryan’s punching bag. After getting hit with a pitch in the ribs by Ryan, Ventura charged the mound to attack the pitcher 20 years his senior. However, upon arriving at the mound, Ryan quickly grabbed Ventura into a headlock and landed six punches into his face and head before Rangers’ catcher Iván Rodríguez could break up the “fight.” In a surprise to many (at least today), Ventura and White Sox manager Gene Lamont were ejected from the game, while Ryan was allowed to stay in the game and pitched hitless ball the rest of the way. Ventura was subsequently suspended for two games, was constantly criticized by commentators and would be booed in Texas for much of the remainder of his career.

Unfortunately, videos of the incident are not available online, as MLB Advanced Madia has cracked down on illegal videos displaying the fight.

Happy 42nd Birthday Robin!

(That’s right, he’s still four years younger than Ryan was when the “fight” occured!)