Each motivated to protect his players by standing up to intimidation, managers Tony La Russa of the Cardinals and Lloyd McClendon of the Pirates engaged in a nose-to-nose public showdown, creating hard feelings that lasted deep into the following season.
Such macho posturing may be necessary for managers to keep the respect of players, but that kind of leadership style doesn’t win the approval of baseball’s corporate executives. La Russa and McClendon were suspended for their actions.
On June 3, 2004, the Cardinals and Pirates were playing the last of a four-game series at Pittsburgh. The Cardinals had won the first three and were leading, 4-2, in the ninth inning of the finale.
Tensions had run high since the series’ second game when the Cardinals’ Scott Rolen was hit in the head by a pitch from Ryan Vogelsong. Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan retaliated by plunking Daryle Ward in the at-bat after Ward had slugged a home run.
In the finale (in which catcher Yadier Molina got the start in his major-league debut), the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols was struck in the leg by an Oliver Perez delivery in the sixth inning. Jason Kendall, the Pirates’ first batter in the bottom half of the inning, got nailed by a Woody Williams pitch.
Bring it on
With two outs and none on in the ninth, Cardinals batter Tony Womack barely avoided a high, tight pitch from Mike Gonzalez.
From the dugout, La Russa yelled at Gonzalez.
Kendall, the catcher, yelled back at La Russa.
La Russa barked at Kendall, telling him to keep the pitches down.
Angered, McClendon charged onto the field and headed directly toward the Cardinals dugout.
Umpires Brian Gorman and Dale Scott tried to restrain McClendon, who called out La Russa.
Accepting the challenge, La Russa entered the field. As both benches emptied, La Russa and McClendon stood toe to toe and exchanged heated words along the first-base line.
“As angry as the two were,” wrote Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook, “it’s surprising no punches were thrown.”
Gorman ejected both managers.
Crime and punishment
“I did what I feel I had to do,” McClendon said to the Post-Gazette. “He (La Russa) crossed the line by yelling at my players. If I don’t do anything there, I lose respect. I lose my team.”
Said La Russa to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “I can’t read anybody’s mind, but the way (Gonzalez) was looking and prancing, I was very suspicious (of his intent). That just doesn’t belong. If you’re going to pitch inside, get the ball below the shoulder.”
When the game resumed, Jason Isringhausen closed out the Pirates in the ninth and the Cardinals completed the sweep. Boxscore
The next day, Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations for Major League Baseball, suspended each manager for two games and imposed fines.
La Russa and McClendon agreed that the matter should be settled on the field.
“I think it’s really bad business,” La Russa said to the Associated Press. “But I also think Major League Baseball is not really attacking the problem _ of pitches up and in _ in the best way that they should.”
Said McClendon: “I guess what you’re supposed to do now … is when the opposing manager berates your players you should just sit there and not say a thing and allow your team to lose respect for you and for them to know that you’re not going to fight for them and stand up for them.”
Plot thickens
The story didn’t end there.
Two months later, in August 2004, McClendon asked umpires to check the cap of Cardinals pitcher Julian Tavarez for a foreign substance. The umpires found something suspicious and ejected Tavarez, who was suspended for 10 games.
In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, La Russa accused McClendon of “gamesmanship.”
Tavarez said McClendon “was trying to get back at Tony more than doing anything to me.”
Said McClendon to MLB.com: “Why would I hate the Cardinals? I don’t hate Tony … I respect them.”
A year later, however, in August 2005, McClendon and Pirates hitting coach Gerald Perry, a former Cardinals player, got into an altercation with Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan during batting practice. Perry may have struck Duncan in the jaw, according to published reports. Afterward, in discussing the incident with the media, Duncan labeled McClendon “an idiot.”
One month after that, the Pirates fired McClendon.
Previously: Wrangle at Wrigley: Tony La Russa vs. Dusty Baker
Previously: 1980s macho match: Whitey Herzog vs. Roger Craig
Leave a Reply