May 20, 1976: The Yanks-Sox '76 Brawl

Left: Lou Piniella and Carlton Fisk. Right: Bill Lee.

May 20, 1976: The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox begin a 4-game series at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.

In 1967, there had been an exchange of beanballs there that led to a bench-clearing brawl. In 1973, at Fenway Park in Boston, a home-plate collision between the teams' All-Star catchers, Carlton Fisk at the plate and baserunner Thurman Munson, led to another big brawl. Now, as the Sox were defending American League Pennant winners, and the Yankees were trying to start a new dynasty, the old rivalry was well and truly back on.

In the bottom of the 6th, with the Yankees leading, 1-0, Lou Piniella on 2nd base and Graig Nettles on 1st base, Otto Vélez singled to right field. Piniella came around to score, but Fisk got the throw from Dwight Evans in right. "Sweet Lou" barreled into "Pudge," hoping to make him drop the ball, but it's no use: Fisk hung on, and Piniella was, unquestionably, out.

In retaliation, Fisk shoved Piniella, and here we go again. This one was even nastier than the brawls of '67 at The Stadium and '73 at Fenway.

The combatants were separated, but Sox reliever Bill Lee -- who may have hated the Yankees more than any Red Sock ever, at least until the Roid Sox of 2003-16 -- started yelling at Nettles, claiming that Nettles had hurt his shoulder. Spewing obscenities like a typical drunken lout Sox fan, "the Spaceman" (may NYPD Detective Sam Tyler of Life On Mars, wherever he is, forgive me) called Nettles out.

Lee was a pretty good pitcher up until this point, but this incident may have been the effect of drugs on his brain. (He has occasionally expressed his liking of marijuana, which usually leaves one much mellower than this.) If you call Graig Nettles out, he's going to clobber you. He did. Yeah, it was a sucker punch, but then, Lee was a sucker.

The Sox went on to win the game, 8-2, but lost the fight, only split that 4-game series, and were well back of the Yankees, who went on to win the Pennant.

Lee later said, "The Yankees fought like hookers swinging their purses." First of all, How would he know how hookers fight? And second of all, What does it say about him that he still lost the fight?

Sox fans like to say that Nettles ruined Lee, a great pitcher until then, but who never recovered. Actually, Lee was only a pretty good pitcher until then, and Lee did recover -- after yet another brilliant Sox trade, sending Lee to the Montreal Expos for Stan Papi. Not the Papi that Sox fans like to remember.

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May 20, 1976 was a Thursday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3 at Shea Stadium. Yes, both New York teams were at home on the same night, and both lost. Despite facing the team in 1st place in the National League Eastern Division, a roadtrip of only 100 miles for their fans, the Mets only drew 16,914 fans. But then, the Yankees, facing their arch-rivals in a key AL East race, only got 28,418.

At any rate, Mike Schmidt hit a home run for the Phils, Dave Kingman for the Mets, and former Red Sox AL Cy Young Award winner Jim Lonborg outpitched reigning NL Cy Young winner Tom Seaver.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Woodie Fryman (7 2/3rds inning) and Dale Murray combined on a 7-hit shutout.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Surprisingly, Rod Carew went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Willie Stargell went 1-for-4.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-5 with an RIB.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dave Winfield hit a home run.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* And the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers and the Milwaukee Brewers were not scheduled.

The NBA Playoffs were between the Conference Finals and the Finals. The Boston Celtics went on to beat the Phoenix Suns in 6 games. The NHL season ended 4 days earlier. The Montreal Canadiens swept the Philadelphia Flyers in 4 straight in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Game 1 was played in the World Hockey Association Finals. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Houston Aeros, 4-3 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has been converted into the "Central Campus" of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.) The Jets won in 4 straight, to take their 1st title. They would win 3 of the WHA's last 4 titles.