Article:Beanball War

Is there a beanball war going on in major league baseball now? 8 players have been hit in the last few games and according to the media on yahoo sports, there is a beanball war of sorts happening before are eyes. Come on guys, you have got to be out of your mind. Beanball wars, not likely. Just because a few players are getting hit doesn't mean a war is on. No guts Fielder made a play at the Dodger Clubhouse door for what, big deal, he got hit in the leg after Manny R. got thrown at in the head. Twice the pitcher for the Brewers tried to hit Manny in the head and finally settled for his forearm. Paul K from the Whitesox's and a few others are getting in the ribs, arms and legs. Nothing new for baseball. In fact, this is nothing compared to the old days when you were thrown at for hitting a homerun or watching the ball travel over the fence, looking at the pitcher while you rounded the bases. I will state here that todays' so called beanball war has been started by the players at the plate. Over the pass years the players, and there are quite a few, have been sitting on top of the plate and sticking their heads, arms and hands over the plate to hit the outside pitch. During the years from the late 50's until just around 1990's pitchers like Drysdale, Spahn, Gibson, Williams, Marichal and lots of others would put the ball in your ear without losing any sleep or anything coming of it from the umpires. It has always been, you hit one of ours, we will hit one of yours and so on and so forth. This comes down to who is in charge of the plate area. If it is the pitcher, than he is within his rights to take it over and pitch inside to get the batter away. If it is the player at bat, then the opposite applies and it isn't the proper thing to do. Baseball has always been a game that involves many different ways of playing and for everyone it is always different. Pitchers see it as keep off my plate or else it's in your space and the batter gets pulked. The batter views it as I am guarding the opposite side of the plate to allow myself to hit the pitch. This is a no win situation and will continue to be just that forever. I can see Don Drysdale right now laughing up above at all this trouble over just a little hit batsmen. Instead of going to the clubhouse after the fact why not tried something difficult like hitting the ball up the middle and through the pitcher. Remember what is fair for the goose is fair for the gander. Where is the Babe when you need him now?