I just read the following story, Ozzie admits to ordering past retaliation, in which manager Ozzie Guillen admits the truth we all knew, managers order pitchers to hit batters.
All I see is a vicious cycle that needs some grace. One batter is hit, a manager orders a retaliation by one of his pitchers, the next manager orders a retaliation for the retailiation until pitchers are hitting batters every time certain teams meet.
Just play the game. Quit hitting each other with pitches on purpose. This is another case, although minor when compared to some of the ridiculous antics in other sports, of men acting like children. "You hit me so I am going to hit you" is so middle school.
This isn't the only time that baseball has behaved childish. It's just as ridiculous when managers charge the field and yell at the umpire. That behavior is not something I want my children to see, and no grown man should act that way. I teach my four and six-year-old to not behave that way; you would think a man of fifty years or so would have learned not to behave that way.
Thank God for the Tony Dungies and the other manly coaches who don't resort to yelling and violence. Just because these guys are blessed and get to play a childhood game for a living doesn't mean that have to behave like children.
