Posted on: Friday, April 15, 2005

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

President Bush threw out the first pitch in baseball's return to Washington D.C., yesterday, but what ESPN kept showing us was Yankee outfielder Gary Sheffield taking the first swipe of the season at a fan in Boston.

Over and over the incident in which a fan appeared to graze Sheffield's face with a blow in the eighth inning of the 8-5 Red Sox victory was replayed. And, each time what struck you was that a bad situation at Fenway Park didn't get a whole lot worse.

It certainly had most of the ingredients of a really ugly melee: stupid "fan," angry player, beer flying and a bitter rivalry.

And, finally, a couple things that prevented it from really getting out of hand: A player who, before it was too late, got cognizant of the consequences and quick action by stadium security.

Five months after one of the worst brawls in U.S. sports history, the rumble at The Palace of Auburn Hills (Mich.); seven months after a Texas Rangers relief pitcher threw a chair into the stands in Oakland, hitting a spectator; and a few feet removed from where two Yankee players fought with a Boston groundskeeper in the 2003 American League playoffs, maybe, just maybe, people are starting to finally get it.

Well, some of them, anyway. And, about time.

"It could have been worse if I didn't hold my composure," Sheffield said. "I almost snapped, but the thing is I thought about the consequences."

Presumably he recalled what happened to Ron Artest, who was suspended for the duration of the NBA season. And Frank Francisco. And Milton Bradley, who did time on baseball suspensions. There is something to be said for that.

At a point where Sheffield, his teammates running to take his back, could have plunged the place into total chaos with one ill-advised leap over the right-field railing or one menacing punch that connected, he did the smart thing. He backed off.

Better that he had not taken the first two-handed shot at all, of course. Better he had completed the throw on what became Jason Varitek's eighth-inning triple, not pausing to take aim at the idiot who got in the way. Major League Baseball headquarters will likely drive that point home.

But when Sheffield was playing the ball that scooted along in the corner probably the last thing he expected was to get struck by a fan, whose intentions behind the apparent blow were unclear, and showered with beer.

"To get punched in the mouth, you don't expect that in a baseball game," Sheffield said.

After the Monica Seles episode, in which the tennis player was stabbed by a spectator, and the Athens Olympics, where an attacker cost the marathon leader a gold medal, it is unfortunate that very little qualifies as surprising anymore.

Now, we're grateful when there isn't a full-on melee.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.