Rangers kick Oakland fan's asses

[Grave_Addiction]

http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/mlb/2004/0914/photo/a_bullpenfight_frt.jpg

OAKLAND – Rangers relief pitcher Frank Francisco was arrested this morning on a charge of aggravated battery after an incident involving fans during a game against Oakland on Monday night.

Rangers relievers charged the stands near their bullpen during the ninth inning. The incident was capped off by Francisco, who had already been removed from the game, throwing a chair into the stands, breaking the nose and lacerating the face of a female fan.

The fan, whose name wasn’t released, was being treated at a local hospital. Francisco was quiet and cooperative after he was taken into custody, Oakland Police Department deputy chief Peter Dunbar told KGO-TV on Tuesday morning.

Major league baseball's commissioner's office said Tuesday morning it was investigating. Oakland won the game, 7-6, in 10 innings.

It was difficult enough to sort out what started the fight that led to Francisco’s chair toss. Also heavily involved was reliever Doug Brocail, who declined comment. Brocail had to be restrained from going after a fan. Carlos Almanzar, who was pulled back from going into the stands, said he had no idea what started the fight. Francisco was unavailable for comment.

The Rangers called the incident unfortunate, but wouldn’t say what started it.

Rangers manager Buck Showalter indicated that more than words were involved in the incident with his players. "Our players wouldn’t have reacted that way otherwise," he said.

Showalter also said security had been made aware of unruly behavior early in the game. He also said that the Rangers regularly have to ask for extra security by the bullpen in Oakland.

Oakland officials begged to differ. David Rinetti, the A’s vice president for stadium operations, said he was not made aware of any request for extra security on Monday nor does he recall any previous requests.

"My understanding from the staff that was down there earlier in the game was that the conversations between players and fans were nothing to merit an ejection or an arrest," said Rinetti, who did acknowledge he was in the area near the Rangers’ dugout when the fracas started. "Nobody threw anything. Nobody went onto the field."

Umpiring crew chief Joe Brinkman said he was also unaware of what led to the fight but said he understood that there had been some calls made to security earlier in the game.

"This isn’t the first time this has happened here," Showalter said. "The security guy does a great job, but they can only do so much."

Showalter cited an incident last year in which a fan in the right field seat threw a cellphone at then Rangers outfielder Carl Everett. That didn’t lead to an incident like Monday's brawl.

Beyond the potential for a criminal case, there exists a possibility that Major League Baseball could take disciplinary action against the Rangers involved.

Asked if he expected to be without Francisco during portions of the critical final weeks of the season, Showalter said: "I don’t know. We’ll see. There were a lot of emotions flying around down there."

After one of the ugliest nights in Rangers’ history, that seemed to be the only thing of which everybody was sure.

--------------------------------------------------

Hot damn! :shock: If the Oakland fans were throwing shit at my Rangers then I'm happy that our guys went in and took care of business. However, I think what Francisco did was a bit over the top. Especially cutting up the ladie's face.

But the Rangers always have problems with the Oakland fans. They're always throwing cell phones and other shit at them, and I'm kinda happy they retaliated.

I bet the fans were in for quite a surprise when the bullpen charged into the stands. Good stuff!

[xxdeadp0olxx]

No way should he have thrown that chair. I don't care what they said to him.

What's his defense going to be if he has to go to court?

Frank Francisco - "But judge they were making fun of me."

[Ikohn4ever]

racial slur is always a possibility, I think that could do it for some people

[Grave_Addiction]

No way should he have thrown that chair. I don't care what they said to him.

What's his defense going to be if he has to go to court?

Frank Francisco - "But judge they were making fun of me."

Well, supposedly they were doing more than just saying things.

You're right, if they were talking shit, then there's no excuse for what happened. But if the fans are throwing crap, they should expect to get dealt with.

[xxdeadp0olxx]

I definitely don't think fans should be throwing anything at players either and they should be dealt with properly. As in getting tossed from the game and such not getting beat up by players of the opposing team. I mean some bad stuff must have been said for the guy to throw a chair at someone. But still he still should not have thrown it. He obviously has very little self control.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

Good, some jackass fans finally got what they deserved.

[Indiana]

Those rangers will be suspended and I bet you he ends up paying huge Civil lawsuit fees. If I was the fan I would be suing for millions for his terrible behavior. There is no reason for an athlete to be throwing stuff at the fans. That is uncalled for the fans are paying their salaries!

[Grave_Addiction]

Those rangers will be suspended and I bet you he ends up paying huge Civil lawsuit fees. If I was the fan I would be suing for millions for his terrible behavior. There is no reason for an athlete to be throwing stuff at the fans. That is uncalled for the fans are paying their salaries!

No, the Arlington fans are paying the Rangers' salaries. There is no revenue sharing in baseball.

You don't even know the whole story yet. How do you know those fans weren't doing something that was warranted them getting their asses beat?

It's known around here that the Rangers are always getting harassed in Oakland everytime they go there. The Rangers have asked for more security around the bullpen. It was only a matter of time before something escalated. I'm sure those pitchers in the bullpen bit their tongues all year long, and enough was enough.

[CaseyRyback]

Those rangers will be suspended and I bet you he ends up paying huge Civil lawsuit fees. If I was the fan I would be suing for millions for his terrible behavior. There is no reason for an athlete to be throwing stuff at the fans. That is uncalled for the fans are paying their salaries!

No, the Arlington fans are paying the Rangers' salaries. There is no revenue sharing in baseball.

You don't even know the whole story yet. How do you know those fans weren't doing something that was warranted them getting their asses beat?

It's known around here that the Rangers are always getting harassed in Oakland everytime they go there. The Rangers have asked for more security around the bullpen. It was only a matter of time before something escalated. I'm sure those pitchers in the bullpen bit their tongues all year long, and enough was enough.

actually there is revunue sharing in baseball but Oakland is one of those teams that makes no money.

I do agree with you though. Oakland fans are really mean to the Rangers (then again it always seems there are problems with Oakland fans)

[Grave_Addiction]

Those rangers will be suspended and I bet you he ends up paying huge Civil lawsuit fees. If I was the fan I would be suing for millions for his terrible behavior. There is no reason for an athlete to be throwing stuff at the fans. That is uncalled for the fans are paying their salaries!

No, the Arlington fans are paying the Rangers' salaries. There is no revenue sharing in baseball.

You don't even know the whole story yet. How do you know those fans weren't doing something that was warranted them getting their asses beat?

It's known around here that the Rangers are always getting harassed in Oakland everytime they go there. The Rangers have asked for more security around the bullpen. It was only a matter of time before something escalated. I'm sure those pitchers in the bullpen bit their tongues all year long, and enough was enough.

actually there is revunue sharing in baseball but Oakland is one of those teams that makes no money.

I do agree with you though. Oakland fans are really mean to the Rangers (then again it always seems there are problems with Oakland fans)

Oops, that's my mistake. I took all the ramblings by Steinbrenner and thought that revenue sharing was still in the planning stages. I had no idea teams were receiving it already.

[CaseyRyback]

^^ I think Steinbrenner paid out like 86 million last year or something like that.

and it only started in the past couple of years and it hardly ever brought up on TV, so its understandable.

[Saucy Jack]

I'm not sure of all the facts, so I'll just say something:

At any sporting event, you paid for your ticket... so you are allowed to boo, cheer, yell, scream, or do whatever you want. But the moment you try to interact with the athletes, either by running onto the field, throwing things at them, trying to touch/hit them, you are fair game.

However, it must also be difficult if the fans yell certain things at you. Wasn't there a case a while back about a basketball player? He went after a fan because the fan yelled some nasty remarks about his wife and unborn child, I believe.

Definitely two sides to these kind of things.

[GuilewasNK]

The guy shouldn't have thrown the chair.

Also, the fans have no right to act like total jackasses either.

It would be best if there were no fans near any visiting teams bulpen.

If the players asked security to come over before it escalated to the chair-throwing incident, and security did nothing, then the visiting team was done a great injustice IMO.

[Xevious]

racial slur is always a possibility, I think that could do it for some people

I really doubt racial slurs were spoken. Remember, you are talking about Oakland. The population has a lot of Blacks and Hispanics as well as whites.

No one in the Oakland crowd would yell out a racist remark without getting taken out by other crowd members.

[Backlash]

Those rangers will be suspended and I bet you he ends up paying huge Civil lawsuit fees. If I was the fan I would be suing for millions for his terrible behavior.

Wow that is one of the HUGE problems in this country today. Why do you think you deserve millions of dollars because you got hit in the face with a chair?

[darekIsAwesome]

whoa

[Levizk]

Actually even if a racial slur was used that doesn't give you the legal right to go out and injure another human being. What Francisco did was assault pure and simple, and if a normal person on the street did that they would go to jail. Because he's an athlete he could've probably shot the fan in the face 3 times and got off with a fine, but he deserves jail time for what he did. If I go out on the street right now and someone calls me a name and I do as little as punch them in the face I can be locked up for assault. As for a civil law suit forcing him to pay millions that will never happen. The law suit will probably force him to cover hospital expenses and there will be some other minor compensation, but I doubt it comes anywhere near even 1 million.

[Backlash]

The law suit will probably force him to cover hospital expenses and there will be some other minor compensation

That would be fair.

[KingDox]

well I think it's the players fault. If the fan was really causing that much trouble then he could have told the ushers of the stadium to move them or have them thrown out. I've seen ushers take people out of their seats.

If some baseball player broke my sister's/GF/Wife/Mon's nose you better belive I'd take that fool to the cleaners.

[Grave_Addiction]

Actually even if a racial slur was used that doesn't give you the legal right to go out and injure another human being. What Francisco did was assault pure and simple, and if a normal person on the street did that they would go to jail. Because he's an athlete he could've probably shot the fan in the face 3 times and got off with a fine, but he deserves jail time for what he did. If I go out on the street right now and someone calls me a name and I do as little as punch them in the face I can be locked up for assault. As for a civil law suit forcing him to pay millions that will never happen. The law suit will probably force him to cover hospital expenses and there will be some other minor compensation, but I doubt it comes anywhere near even 1 million.

Of course it wasn't warranted if all they did was call him a name. But if they were doing something else, then that's a different matter all together.

[ElwoodCuse]

I hope this guy has a good lawyer, because this lady is looking at a huge judgment.

See Manning v. Grimsley; this isn't the first time a jackass baseball player pulled a similar stunt.

NOTHING warranted this. This is dealt with by complaing to security and if necessary the umpires, not by throwing stuff at fans.

[Reality's Fringe]

I'm not sure of all the facts, so I'll just say something:

At any sporting event, you paid for your ticket... so you are allowed to boo, cheer, yell, scream, or do whatever you want.


So, by that logic, if I pay to go to a movie theatre, I can yell, scream, and make all the noises I want solely because I paid for a ticket? I agree that he shouldn't have thrown a chair, but fans need to show restraint as well.

[Levizk]

A movie theatre and a sporting event can't even be compared conduct wise. A movie theatre has a set of rules saying you can't be noisy, but a sporting event allows and even encourages fans to yell, scream and generally be annoying. A great example of this is when the stadium screen encourages all the fans to stomp out a beat or sing along to some song during the change of an inning or to encourage a batter. Sure they don't openly encourage you to taunt players, but it is considered part of the game when it does happen. This is when the player being a mature adult male who is making millions of dollars is supposed to kick in. Fans of course can go too far, but when that threshold is crossed the authorities (much like in a movie theatre) should be contacted. If you're in a theatre and someone in the middle of a film starts screaming at you, you complain to the usher or security. You don't take your bucket of hot popcorn and launch it off their head, even if they are doing something like hitting you with goobers.

[CaseyRyback]

A movie theatre and a sporting event can't even be compared conduct wise. A movie theatre has a set of rules saying you can't be noisy, but a sporting event allows and even encourages fans to yell, scream and generally be annoying. A great example of this is when the stadium screen encourages all the fans to stomp out a beat or sing along to some song during the change of an inning or to encourage a batter. Sure they don't openly encourage you to taunt players, but it is considered part of the game when it does happen. This is when the player being a mature adult male who is making millions of dollars is supposed to kick in. Fans of course can go too far, but when that threshold is crossed the authorities (much like in a movie theatre) should be contacted. If you're in a theatre and someone in the middle of a film starts screaming at you, you complain to the usher or security. You don't take your bucket of hot popcorn and launch it off their head, even if they are doing something like hitting you with goobers.

IF I paid 30-50 to sit near the dugout and had to hear someone yell and scream the whole game I might have done the same thing as the fan. As much as people want to villify this guy, he gets to hear it all freakin year. And I would not doubt that someone used and ethnic or racial slur aganist him or his family.

John Kruk even mentioned Boomer being pissed off really badly when someone mentioned his dying mother.

Until we know what was said I will not pass judgment. Also something similar happened in Boston last year and nothing all that bad happened to the players who got into trouble.

[Levizk]

IF I paid 30-50 to sit near the dugout and had to hear someone yell and scream the whole game I might have done the same thing as the fan. As much as people want to villify this guy, he gets to hear it all freakin year. And I would not doubt that someone used and ethnic or racial slur aganist him or his family.

John Kruk even mentioned Boomer being pissed off really badly when someone mentioned his dying mother.

Until we know what was said I will not pass judgment. Also something similar happened in Boston last year and nothing all that bad happened to the players who got into trouble.

Racial and ethnic slurs do not give you the right to hurt people. There is no law that says, assault is ok in the event of someone calling you names. Outside of self defense there is no reason to attack someone. I don't care if they called him every racial slur in the book, that's for security to deal with and does not prompt the action of slamming a chair off someone's face. He's a grown man not a child, and he should by now be mature enough to deal with these situations. So unless this lady was throwing bricks down out of the stands or had a rifle aimed on the guy, he deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[CaseyRyback]

IF I paid 30-50 to sit near the dugout and had to hear someone yell and scream the whole game I might have done the same thing as the fan. As much as people want to villify this guy, he gets to hear it all freakin year. And I would not doubt that someone used and ethnic or racial slur aganist him or his family.

John Kruk even mentioned Boomer being pissed off really badly when someone mentioned his dying mother.

Until we know what was said I will not pass judgment. Also something similar happened in Boston last year and nothing all that bad happened to the players who got into trouble.

Racial and ethnic slurs do not give you the right to hurt people. There is no law that says, assault is ok in the event of someone calling you names. Outside of self defense there is no reason to attack someone. I don't care if they called him every racial slur in the book, that's for security to deal with and does not prompt the action of slamming a chair off someone's face. He's a grown man not a child, and he should by now be mature enough to deal with these situations. So unless this lady was throwing bricks down out of the stands or had a rifle aimed on the guy, he deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I am not saying he was not at fault, but I would not be suprised to find out they were tossing things into the bullpen. People who heckle are usually wasted

Also not saying that they should not have gotten security, but sometimes the emotions of the moment take over.

[Grave_Addiction]

Ahhh the infamous chair!!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/09-04/0915chair.jpg

[bmulligan]

If I were gettin' paid 3 million a year, I could put up with a lot of crappy fans. I'd be laughing all the way to the bank.

Most of these 'ball' players are just over egoed testosterone warehouses who need to grow up . Unfortunately the'll never have to because they play a 'game' for more money in 1 year than most of us will make in a lifetime.

By the time the chair was thrown, there were 2 dozen people around and all that was being exchanged were words between The ballplayer and a fan. It was not retalliation, or for defense, it was an act of outright reckless aggression. The lady with the cut and broken nose was a bystander and I hope she gets a large portion of his income for this year. Maybe it will teach him to control his immature behavior regardless of what is done to him by rowdy fans.

[Grave_Addiction]

The man himself!

http://www.dfw.com/images/realcities/realcities/9662/thumb_93354658466.jpg

[sblymnlcrymnl]

The man himself!

http://www.dfw.com/images/realcities/realcities/9662/thumb_93354658466.jpg

A Real American Hero.

[dafoomie]

What the pitcher did was unacceptable but theres no way the guy deserves any money out of this. The wife that got her nose broken should get medical bills+lost wages and thats all.


Until we know what was said I will not pass judgment. Also something similar happened in Boston last year and nothing all that bad happened to the players who got into trouble.
No, what happened in Boston was that Karim Garcia and Jeff Nelson attacked a groundskeeper that was working in the bullpen. Apparently Nelson thought he was cheering a little too much after a Boston run, and Garcia just jumped in like the punk he is. The groundskeeper didn't do anything beyond cheering, and nothing at the level of the Oakland fan, though both actions by players are totally unacceptable.

http://home.comcast.net/~dafoomie/chokeland.jpg
This was against the Redsox but I forgot what exactly he did... I think he was throwing things.

[Backlash]

That guy has big forearms.

[Grave_Addiction]

The lady

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/09-04/0914woman.jpg

[Grave_Addiction]

I know I'm a bad man, but this is just a funny ass picture.

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/img/09-04/0916nose1.jpg

[Lootr2Core]

Those rangers will be suspended and I bet you he ends up paying huge Civil lawsuit fees. If I was the fan I would be suing for millions for his terrible behavior.

Wow that is one of the HUGE problems in this country today. Why do you think you deserve millions of dollars because you got hit in the face with a chair?

Man Geraldo must be RICH!