The Mariners literally staged a wild west brawl in their clubhouse hours before game time Tuesday night:
Shortstop Jean Segura, catcher Mike Zunino and other players were involved in the skirmish.
Moments after center fielder Dee Gordon politely asked reporters to leave the locker room, the double doors burst open with players shoving and shouting.
“Things happen in a clubhouse,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Our guys are working through it and talking through it. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.”
The most famous of these was the Cliff Johnson fight with Goose Gossage in 1979 that injured Gossage. It appears no one was hurt in this one.
This does beg the question, does this count as domestic violence? Should all these Mariners be suspended for hitting what is essentially a family member? MLB has fairly low tolerance for players hitting spouses and children. Shouldn’t this extend to the clubhouse? It’s basically the same thing.
This is a tasteless attempt at humor. It is not ‘basically the same thing’ in any way, shape, or form.
Mitch » It is not a tasteless attempt at humor. It is showing the hypocrisy of how we treat violence. It should not be alright to punch your teammate. Please explain to me why when a heated argument between teammates ends in violence that’s okay, and when the same thing happens between family members someone gets suspended by the league. If there is a fight on the field during a game, people get suspended by the league, but for a lot less time than if it had happened at home.
So please explain to me why they are not the same. No one should be physically abused for words.
Gross.
I agree people shouldn’t hit each other, and I am fine with a suspension, but a professional athlete hitting another professional athlete in a fight is something very different than hitting a spouse or child. This is why domestic violence has a unique stigma, no?
abc » Does the unique stigma come from a violation of trust among people close to each other, or form a stronger person abusing a weaker one? If it is a violation of trust, then I say it applies to a team, since teammates need to trust each other. If it is a dominance issue, then maybe you’re correct, since all these people are on a equal footing as elite athletes. Boys will be boys? I don’t like that.
As a society, we are accepting less violence over time. Even boxing is not as popular as it was decades ago. MLB eliminated dangerous slides. It suspends pitchers for throwing at batters. It suspends players who fight on the field. MLB is saying correctly that violence is unacceptable. That should go for the locker room as well.