One swing of the bat can tie the score. It's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out. And while it's probably a good thing baseball long ago frowned on somebody sharpening his spikes so he could slice up opposing infielders, the current game could use a little more of Cobb's fierceness. Baseball went corporate long ago, so Arizona's reaction Saturday night probably shouldn't have come as a surprise. There's a general politeness in today's game that wouldn't have been tolerated in the old days.
Some guys charge the mound when they get hit on the foot , for crying out loud.
Where Pete Rose used to send second basemen tumbling butt over teacups while attempting to break up a double play, now few players attempt to take out somebody who probably was a teammate at some point along the way. I talked with Drysdale about this shortly before his death in 1993. Then a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Drysdale bemoaned the creeping political correctness in the game even then. It's all multiyear contracts, and many opponents have the same agents. Behind home plate, it's like a family reunion.