That's Bill "Spaceman" Lee pictured above, showing off some of the injuries he sustained during the brutal Red Sox-Yankees brawl of May 20, 1976 — one of the decade's more vicious "basebrawls". Since I was a little too young to appreciate the Bud Harrelson-Pete Rose dust-up in the 1973 NLCS, this fight was the first baseball brawl that really etched itself upon my frontal lobe. Footage from the fight kicks in at about 1:35 in the clip below...
Having just passed the 36th anniversary of that fight, I figured that this week's edition of "High and Tight" (my weekly baseball column for Rolling Stone Online) should focus on some of the great basebrawls of the last five decades. Our panelists came up with some good ones, with Greg Dulli's being my personal favorite...
Speaking of which, I recently did a fun interview with Tom Jackson at Cornbelt Baseball, in which he picked my brain about the column, the meeting of all things musical and mound-related, and what's up with the paperback edition of Big Hair & Plastic Grass, which comes out June 5. Tom asked me what I have planned, promo-wise; while I've got several things in the works, the only thing that I've got completely confirmed is a paperback-release celebration on Tuesday, June 12 at Manitoba's Bar on NYC's Lower East Side. The shindig (which, not entirely coincidentally, takes place on the 42nd anniversary of Dock Ellis' LSD-assisted no-hitter) will run from 6:30-9 pm; I will be reading from the book and signing copies (which will be on sale at the bar), and the legendary Handsome Dick Manitoba of Dictators fame will be MC-ing and hosting the proceedings. While I can't promise that I will be tripping on acid, I can guarantee a good time for all, including 70s jams on the jukebox, "dirty water dogs," peanuts, and of course liquid refreshments. (Which you gotta pay for, but hey — it's not some expensive yuppie bar!)
The event at Manitoba's is FREE to all, so long as you're 21 or over. If you're in NYC that night, come on down and say hey...