The Baddest Man in Baseball

When I was a kid I used to love bench-clearing brawls. It seemed such a shift from the calm passivity of a typical baseball game. You go from 9 guys standing around on a field of grass chewing on stuff and 9 guys lounging around in a glorified toolshed chewing on stuff to 18 guys running amok, fists pumping, hats flying, hair mussed. It's great. Awhile back I was reading up on the greatest baseball brawls of all time, when I came across evidence of the greatest baseball fight in history.

It's the story of a hardass umpire and a frustrated Chicago White Sox team. The combination on May 20, 1932 made for a great piece of baseball lore. And I think it proves that George Moriarty, who most people probably don't even know, is the baddest man to ever wield a bat and chew on stuff.

After the White Sox lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Indians in Cleveland, some of Chicago's players accused ump George Moriarty of deliberately making bad calls against them. Moriarty, who'd once played for the Sox, challenged the players to a fight, and pitcher Mike Gaston accepted. Moriarty knocked Gaston down with one punch, but broke his fist in the process. At that point, White Sox manager Lew Fonseca and catchers Charlie Berry and Frank Grube jumped the ump and thrashed him good, bloodying his mouth.

Fellow umpire Bill Dinneen did try to help Moriarty, but George still had some brawl left in him. "You stay out of this, Bill," he said. "This is my fight." Then he got up and said, "Now who else is there who thinks I'm yellow?"

I tip my hat to you, Mr. Moriarty, the toughest SOB in baseball.

References
1. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/basebrawl.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Moriarty