Posted at 1:34 a.m., Saturday, July 21, 2007
Baseball: Minor-league team walks off field, forfeits
Associated Press
MACON, Ga. — As a player, Wally Backman was always up for a scrap. After his minor-league team got into a tussle last night, it simply went home.Backman had already been ejected much earlier when his South Georgia Peanuts walked off the field in the seventh inning following a brawl with the Macon Music in the independent South Coast League.
With Macon way ahead, Casey Garrison of the Music swung at a 3-0 pitch and drove in a run that made it 12-2. That didn't sit well with the Peanuts.
The next batter, Carlos Arroyo, evaded two pitches before the next one hit him. The dugouts emptied, umpires broke up the fight and the players were sent back to their benches.
At that point, the Peanuts decided they'd had enough and did not return to the field.
Garrison claimed he heard Peanuts pitching coach Buddy York tell his pitcher to hit Arroyo.
"I really don't like to play these guys," Garrison said. "Every time they lose, it's like they just can't take it."
Backman, a key member of the New York Mets when they won the 1986 World Series, was tossed in the second inning.
