Lost and found... 25 years later

Almost every baseball fan in America can point back to some defining childhood moment when their favorite team did something that sticks in their minds forever. World Series wins, no-hitters, game-winning blasts... almost everyone can recall at least one game that still elicits their deepest baseball passions, even decades later.

I'm in that same boat, too. Problem is, I grew up in Atlanta, back when the Braves were frighteningly bad. Bad enough that bumper stickers around town read "Go Braves! And take the Falcons with you!"

But despite a childhood marred by the 1980s version of the Washington Nationals, I still have a few great memories of those hapless teams. And one of the greatest just popped up on "the internets", which Homer Simpson says is available on computers now.

Mad props to Padres blog www.gaslampball.com for digging up one of the obscure greats - a 1984 game between the 'Dres and the wigwam-loving Bravos. A game I've craved for so long that I once convinced a buddy of mine (former Cartoon Network employee) to spend an afternoon searching Turner's archives for this baseball pot of gold.

It wasn't there. But now, it's been found.

http://www.gaslampball.com/2009/8/10/984036/1984-padres-brawl-video

14 ejections, 5 fans arrested, and more 80s fashion humor than a hundred episodes of Cheap Seats. And it all happened exactly 25 years ago, on a random Sunday afternoon in Dukes of Hazzard country. (I'm not proud of it, but I've learned to embrace it. Yes, some parts of that show were filmed in the county where I grew up.)

We're talking almost 30 minutes of video, but I'll give you the cliff's notes version:

Video 1:
Pascual Perez (nicknamed I-285 because he once drove around that highway for 3 hours looking for the stadium) hits Alan Wiggins with the first pitch of the game. Benches clear. You see the teepee in left field. John Sterling speaks, but refreshingly doesn't do that weird banchee-scream followed by 'Yankees win!'

Ed Whitson, upset that he's forced to wear that doo-doo brown road jersey, retaliates. Perez holds a bat while waiting for backup (his teammates were too busy dropping ground balls). Perez comes up again, gets three tight ones, and the ejections begin. Greg Booker takes just one pitch to plunk "I-285". See ya. Pads are on their 3rd pitcher and 3rd manager of the day.

Video 2:
Perez steps in against Greg Harris and bails on the first pitch, which is nowhere near him. Kurt Bevacqua starts giving lip, moreso to show off the great 80s 'stache. (this 'Dres team is LOADED with porn staches!)

6:30 - Craig Lefferts joins the plunk parade, and it's on like Donkey Kong (appropriate for 1984). 30 bodies on the field, including a festively plump umpire John McSherry getting horizontal to break it up. Champ Summers sprints to the Braves dugout for a chat with Perez. Atlanta fans end up on the field, clearly believing the Civil War has re-started. In restraining them, Bob Horner breaks his wrist for the 17th time.

Video 3:
Joe Torre tells umps he's tired of losing and will one day manage the Yankees to a few World Series titles. In the closing seconds, Donnie Moore sets off the best fireworks of the night with a beanball to Graig Nettles' backside.

Video 4:
The game has degenerated to a Jerry Springer episode. A shirtless Ed Whitson is ready to scale the dugout wall and rumble with a fan who reportedly called Ron Burgundy "classless".

Then, the best part of the whole day... at 4:10, a fan who tries to take advantage of the melee and grab a souvenir is pummeled by Jerry Royster. Just pause the video at 4:28 and check out the outfit. And know that, 25 years later, that fan is still hanging his head, knowing that his 15 seconds of fame consisted of being punched by a light-hitting middle infielder.

Absolutely amazing.

I'm not advocating base-brawls. A lot of baseball fights are nothing more than player A standing strategically behind player B, yelling 'if he wasn't stopping me, I'd...'

And I don't like to see baseball become professional wrestling, like it did on this day.

But this game, and this whole day, fascinated me. I woke up for school Monday morning, wondering if it was real, or if I had dreamed up a nine-round fight on a baseball diamond. And since this was long before we had 19 Sportscenters every morning, I never saw a replay... for 25 years.

Until now.

The Padres ended up winning the NL pennant that year. So maybe a go-around with some drunk Southern boys was just what they needed.

And the Braves? Well, this was as exciting as it got back then in the land of the teepee.