Baseball "Brawls."

I caught a bit of Doug Glanville on NPR this afternoon. He's a former baseball player who is currently writing a column for the New York Times. His most recent column is a 1st person rendering of that rare, but bizarre baseball event: the bench-clearing brawl.

His account is hilarious, mostly because I get the sinking feeling that he's not really embellishing. Baseball is kind of a dainty sport (ok, ok, genteel). Couple of tidbits he added on the radio that aren't in the piece:

• Why does the batter take his helmet off when he's charging the mound? (Glanville, you'll be happy to know, was smart enough to keep it on.)
• Some players, typically the stars of a team, are untouchable. Example: Manny Ramirez. He can admire his homeruns as much as he wants. No one is gonna drill him. Unknown batter #8? Watch your back.
  

And my favorite line:

What I found interesting was that instead of Perez and Byrd ripping each other’s hair out, they were locked together in a protective embrace, apologizing and praying to get out of this mass of humanity. Everyone within earshot was wondering why we all risked physical harm for a séance.