The Garry Sheffield vs. Boston fan incident points out again that professional sports in America must come to grips with unruly fans. If it takes a canine squad to patrol the field between innings, or removal of front-row seats, the frightening aspect of fans attacking players and coaches is now all too real. Either stop this stuff now, or get ready for road flares to come screaming from the sky onto the field a la the recent soccer match in Milan, Italy.
Sheffield should be commended for not attacking that idiot in Boston.
The incident made SportsEye nostalgic for the 1984 brawl between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres. Braves hurler Pascual Perez drilled the late Alan Wiggins in the back to start the game, and Padres manager Dick Williams ordered his pitchers to hit Perez every time he came to bat. Brawls occurred in the second, fifth, eighth and ninth innings.
But the real fun began when Atlanta fans decided to join in the melee. One dumped what had to be a keg-in-a-cup size beer on Kurt Bevacqua’s head, and only the police and several players stopped him from reaching the fan in the stands and beating the heck out of him.
Meanwhile, on the left-field line, Braves fans got into it with their own players, Chris Chambliss and Jerry Royster. Their mistake was hanging around to long, because the burly Chambliss dragged one from the stands onto the field and began pummeling him.
Five fans were arrested, and 12 players and coaches were suspended. Had Sheffield pulled the fan on the field and tagged him, he would probably have ben suspended for the rest of the season.
Times have changed, but fan violence has not. The Red Sox revoked the fan’s season tickets, and he’s lucky to have not been arrested. Any fan who as much as touches a baseball that is in play should face the same fate.