Reply #40: Boston did not make the biggest fan incidents, though [View All]

[MADem]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=list/alltimebrawls

Though Jimmie Piersall, a Bay State lad (and later, my milkman) playing for the Indians at the time, did....to the fans' credit, they cheered Mr. Fear Strikes Out:

Piersall's punch, kick and catch contest (Indians at New York, 1961)
In the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, Cleveland's Jimmy Piersall was minding his own business in center field when two fans came out of the stands in the seventh inning and tried to attack him. Piersall immediately scored a knockdown punch on one. The other, mustering all his courage, ran away as quickly as possible. But Piersall took off after him, getting not-quite-close enough to land a rough kick on the kid. No problem. By then, Piersall's teammates, Johnny Temple and Walt Bond, had arrived to land a few solid blows.

Barely missing a beat, Piersall made a spectacular catch at the fence to rob Johnny Blanchard of a two-run homer. Dig this: Yankee fans gave Piersall a huge cheer as he left the field.

And then, there was a KNIFE THROWING fan at Yankee Stadium, too: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2002/09/19/fan_violence/

Date: Aug. 26, 1986
Setting: Yankee Stadium

A Bowie hunting knife with a five-inch blade was thrown at California Angels rookie Wally Joyner after his team's 2-0 defeat of the Yankees. Joyner was grazed on the left arm by the butt end of the weapon, escaping injury. Said Joyner: "I picked it up and gave it to Gene Mauch."

Then you have fans falling from the upper decks at Yankee, too: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/05-00/05-27-00/c01sp096.htm

In a game interrupted when a fan fell from the upper deck onto the screen behind home plate, Boston beat New York 4-1 Friday night on the pitching of Ramon Martinez.
The fan, identified as Stephen Laurenzi, 24, of Yonkers, N.Y., was briefly unconscious as he was sprawled on the screen. Able to walk later, he was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct, police Lt. John Roeder said.

Yankee fans are certainly not saints: http://sptimes.com/2005/03/29/Northpinellas/Yankee_fan_guilty_of_.shtml A New York Yankees fan charged with attacking a man wearing a Boston Red Sox cap after the American League Championship Series last year has pleaded guilty to an aggravated assault charge. Tampa resident Richard F. Padilla, 31, was sentenced to 18 months of probation and ordered to have no contact with the victim, William Grant. According to Largo police, Padilla charged Grant outside a bar just hours after the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the seventh game of the series. Padilla ordered Grant to throw his Red Sox cap on the ground and spit on it, but Grant refused. When Padilla grabbed a hammer, Grant threw down the hat but still did not spit. Grant told police that the attacker smashed a car window with the hammer and left. Police used credit card transactions from the bar to track down Padilla and arrest him. Padilla told police that Grant teased him and his friend about the Yankees' loss. Grant has said he did not provoke the attack. The Red Sox went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

The point of all this: You find it EVERYWHERE, this fan misbehavior. It's silly and childish to generalize and say that one group is worse or better than another.