Is the practice of retaliation pitches antiquated?
A feature in ESPN The Magazine’s “World Game 100 Issue” by Buster Olney argues since the practice isn’t mirrored in any other professional sports, it’s unnecessary.
Using the contentious series between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays as the prime example, Olney draws on Braves pitcher Julio Teheran’s 96 mph pitch to Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista which hit Bautista in the thigh on May 19. Bautista took the first pitch of his at bat inside at 95 mph.
During the previous game, Bautista pointed his trademark glare and bat flip toward Braves pitcher Eric O’Flaherty after hitting a home run.
“Bautista’s emotional reactions can’t be a surprise to anyone who watched him play the past decade, yet before the next day’s game, it was determined by somebody that Bautista was going to get drilled,” Olney wrote. “This might have been exacerbated by the Braves’ losing Freddie Freeman to a broken wrist on an Aaron Loup fastball in the series.”
Both benches received a warning after Teheran’s pitch.
Olney argues that retaliation pitches provide no advantage by drawing manager Earl Weavers’ Baltimore Orioles teams that were forbidden from throwing retaliation pitches. In Weaver’s first 14 years as Orioles manager, Olney writes, Baltimore hit the fewest hitters of any American League team, but played in the World Series four times and finished with a 1,306-885 record, better than any other team.
Analyzing the NBA, NFL and NHL’s referees’ lack of “looking the other way” for retaliation hits or fouls, Olney asks why is Major League Baseball enabling the practice?
The full story can be read in June’s issue of ESPN The Magazine.
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