Sunday, April 16, 2006 |
The Fight That Benched Dusty Baker
I had two friends with me and they were taking us to the airport. They were taking our wives, me, Kenny Landreaux and Derrel Thomas. I came around the corner in the parking lot and saw some Canadian dudes there. I saw Derrel's wife and her feet were up in the air. They'd pushed her out of the way, and we got into a fight in the parking lot. I was uppercutting this guy, and I guess we beat him up, and I got on the plane and my right hand started throbbing. I went to tell Tommy [Lasorda, Dodgers manager], and I said, "I think I broke my hand." He said, "What? How?" I told him: fighting.I called my dad and he was upset. He said, "I told you about fighting all the time." I had to see a doctor in New York the next day, and he said it'll be all right in six to eight weeks. I said, "Doc, I don't have six to eight hours." Manny Mota gave me one of those bowling sleeves that you put on. I never took my batting gloves off. Tommy knew. My teammates knew.
I couldn't swing. I was swinging one-handed. I couldn't say anything because if I said something, they'd walk me to get to somebody intentionally. Tommy said he wanted me out there. He told me, "I don't care if you're one-legged, I need you out there." I couldn't do anything. I had to eat it.
That's one of the reasons I want to get back to the World Series so bad. I helped us get there, but I couldn't do anything. Everybody was like, are you choking? What's wrong with you? [Gary Matthews] called me and Garry Maddox called me. They said, "What's wrong with you, man? You don't swing like that." I couldn't tell anybody. You had to eat it. Like Tommy said, they needed me on the field -- not to be a hero or anything. Tommy said, "You've got to play."
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