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Barry Zito Retaliates Against Prince Fielder in Spring Training Game

Sunday, March 7th, 2010 | Chicago White Sox, MLB, Sports | No Comments

Gotta love the game of baseball — Barry Zito plunked Prince Fielder on his 1st pitch thrown to the big lefty in Wednesday’s Cactus league game between the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers.  It looks like the Giants have been waiting about 6 months to get Fielder back for his antics when Fielder stroked a walk-off home run to give the Brewers a come-from-behind win against the Giants on September 6, 2009.  Too funny.  As Fielder neared home plate after the homer, he pretended to knock down his teammates and his teammates all fell backwards like bowling pins as if Fielder had just fired an ace.  The Brewers and their fans thought it was hysterical, but the Giants thought it was completely inappropriate.

The Giants had to wait 6 months to get Fielder back, but Zito took care of business on the 1st pitch thrown to the slugger.  It landed right in the middle of Fielder’s back and he took it in stride, walking down to 1st base without any reaction at all.  Good thing that these guys understand how the game is played.

The only better retaliation story I’ve heard is this one – courtesy of ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian.  White Sox pitcher Ed Farmer gave up a grand slam home run to Wayne Gross who took his time running around the bases during his home run trot.  Farmer was a reliever at the time and did not have an opportunity to face Gross again for 3 long years.  But the kicker is – it was during a live batting practice session during spring training when the 2 players were teammates!!!  Farmer got to pitch to Gross during the batting practice session and he promptly plunked Gross to get him back for running too slowly during his home run trot 3 years prior.  Now that is holding a grudge…

Maybe baseball really isn’t just for the weak…

Tags: Barry Zito, Ed Farmer, Prince Fielder, Wayne Gross