Sometimes poplore doesn’t have to be “the most important event ever” to have a meaningful impact on culture. In fact, most things that resonate over time begin as mundane situations. That brings us back to the summer of 1993…
One was rising superstar Robin Ventura — 26 years old, a perennial Golden Glove winner, and the centerpiece to an historic franchise.
The other was Nolan Ryan — a 46 years old shoe-in for the Hall of Fame in his 27th and final season… tying up loose ends.
Unfortunately for Robin Ventura, one of those loose ends was the Chicago White Sox.
Unknown to the public, but chronicled in Nolan Ryan: The Making of a Pitcher, Ryan had been secretly feuding with the team for three years. In a moment that was many decades before the Michael Jordan “and I took that personally” meme would exist, Nolan Ryan simply didn’t like the attitude he saw at the plate from a White Sox player in a spring training game. Then the player had the audacity to hit a home run off of Ryan during the regular season.
“He’s swinging like he isn't afraid of me.”
That started three years of animosity and hit batters escalating to an otherwise pleasant evening in August, 1993.
August 4, 1993.
The White Sox pitcher hit a Rangers batter in the second inning. In the third, Robin Ventura stepped to the plate. Ryan’s first pitch was high and inside. Ventura turned into the pitch and got nailed in the back. He started to take his base but then turned and charged the mound. And then, well… you can watch for yourself:
As happens in baseball, the benches cleared and the two boxers were submerged in the ensuing brawl. Ventura, ironically, slipped out unharmed while Ryan was almost knocked unconscious. His savior was none other than White Sox superstar Bo Jackson—the same man who, years earlier, hit a line drive straight into Ryan’s face, giving pop culture this legendary photo:
In folkloristics, legends can be defined as true stories too good to be true. Or, stories set in truth but make you question your worldview in some way. I’d say Ryan v. Ventura counts for both. The good ol’ boy Hall of Fame pitcher with an attitude the size of Texas squaring off with the young cocky whippersnapper, before being rescued by his long-time foe…? It’s a heckuva story, that’s for sure.
Whether Ryan was right or wrong, when Ventura was right or wrong, baseball’s most famous fight was watched by millions at the time and countless more over the following decades becoming planted in our pop culture memory.