Carl Yastrzemski Gets A Brush-back Pitch From Twins Tom Hall
The lesson in big league ball after hitting a home run used to be- get ready to hit the deck.
Pitchers would routinely throw at hitters on their next at bat after homering. And not for showboating like players do today by standing in the batters box admiring their blast or flipping the bat.
No, all you had to do in the old days was hit a home run and certain pitchers would make sure that you would end up on your keister during your next trip to the plate. A pitcher who does that today risks ejection, suspension and the batter charging the mound to pummel the pitcher.
The news slug says:
St. Paul – Minneapolis, June 9, 1969. A NEW TWIST. Boston Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski (8) twists away from home plate on brush-back pitch from Minnesota Twins pitcher Tom Hall in the 5th inning of American League game Monday in the Twin Cities. Yastrzemski lead off in first inning with a home run. Minnesota catcher John Roseboro gloves ball. photo: AP
What’s interesting about this brush-back is that Tom Hall is not the pitcher Yaz homered against. Twins starter Dick Woodson allowed the home run. In the third inning Woodson walked Yastrzemski. Reliever Hall was the third Twins pitcher when he sent Yastrzemski to the dirt in the fifth inning.
Yastrzemski went one for four in the game. The Red Sox would go on to win 5-3.
Yastrzemski got a bit of payback by homering off Hall on August 14, 1970 and again on May 11,1971.
Not really directly related to this photo, but here’s a great series on You Tube about the dynamics between a pitcher and hitter. Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson co-wrote a book: “Sixty feet, Six inches” and promoted it with a number of videos. They talked about intimidation and when Gibson would send a batter to the dirt. I wonder if anyone ever charged Gibson.