The All Time Best Baseball Players In a BRAWL team

[JimStinson]

The Nolan Ryan thing ...was called nuggies on the head. Which you do with your knuckle in jest for the sake of irritating someone is not the same as a brawl.

[milkit1]

this one is simple - the 1895 Baltimore Orioles

[Deertick]

Dave Hollins backing up Matthews. You can't defend against crazy.
Jonny Gomes as 4th outfielder.

[deebro041]

George Bell(Blue Jays) was fun to watch at times charging the mound kung fu style.

[Wymers Auction]

Pedro Borbon Pitcher of the Big Red Machine. That guy was nuts and loved to fight.

[mr2686]

I'd like to add an honorary mention of Hank Bauer in the outfield.

[JimStinson]

Bauer WAS a tough guy, WW II , recieved 2 Bronze stars and 2 purple hearts. because of his facial features team mate Whitey Ford used to chide him that he fought the Japanese with shovels

With regards to Juan Marichal who started one of baseball's most famous brawls when he beat catcher Johnny Roseboro over the head with a baseball bat. One of the combatants told me what REALLY happened and in Juan's defense Roseboro was not exactly an innocent by stander. During one of Marichal's prior starts against the Dodgers he had thrown alot of pitches in close and beat them bad. So when he stepped up to the plate to hit , Roseboro "On purpose" threw the ball back to the pitcher so close to Marichal's head it almost nicked his ear. Marichal turned to complain to the ump and Roseboro said "Shut up and hit" to which Marichal complied and started hitting the closest round thing he could find which happened to be Roseboro's head

[Frozen in Time]

Yankee ex-marine Hank Bauer apparently never backed away from a fight - and had the nose to prove it.

[JimStinson]

No offense to Joe Louis but I think that in 1957 Mathews might have been able to take him one on one.
Mathews and Pete Whisenant were lifetime friends, all the way back to their days in the minors. Pete and I were friends for about the last 10 years of his life when he was living in Costa Rica. Both were drinking men. Pete asked me to call Mathews and try and convince him to accompany me on one of my visits. Mrs Mathews hated Pete. So I spoke with Eddie on the phone and he agreed. A couple days later he called back and said he couldn;t go and was instead going on a "cruise" , am sure his wife put the brakes on the trip as according to Pete "she ran the show" , Ironically it was during that cruise that Mathews had a freak accident when he slipped and fell in the water and was pinned between the ship and the pier , breaking his pelvis. he never fully recovered and by most accounts it was the accident that contributed to his death.
I knew Pete when he was in his 60's and he was intimidating and still loved to fight. We were sitting in a dive bar one day in Costa Rica and two big guys were in the booth behind us. Words were exchanged and Pete smiled at me casually and told me "I hope you can take at least one of them because a fight is about to break out" , Pete then stood up and walked over to the bar and shook hands with a guy that was well over 6 feet tall and maybe 250 pounds. He was slapping him on the back and buying him a beers, both of them were laughing like crazy leaving me sitting with the two hoods that were giving me the stare down. Pete came back and sat down and I told him it was a good time for him to run into an old friend like the big guy at the bar. Pete smiled and said "never saw him in my life, but I always make friends with the biggest guy in the bar just in case a fight breaks out"

[Bob Lemke]

For my money, I'd go with Clint Courtney at catcher. The "Toy Bulldog" fought one and all at the drop of the hat . . . and would knock your hat off if that's what it took to get the ball rolling.

[JimStinson]

Great Eddie Mathews story !, Pete told me one that was amazing. They both played together in the minors and one night they were both drunk and went to a brothel in the middle of the night (probably just wanted a glass of water) and the owner swung open the door with a loaded shotgun aimed at their heads and Pete said Mathews walked right up to the guy , grabbed the screen door and slammed it in his face and told him something I can;t repeat and stalked off. That was pre-major leagues imagine how cocky he got after coming up to "The Show"