Do you remember back in late July when a minor league baseball brawl became major news on ESPN and tons of other media outlets not only because it lasted nearly 10 minutes long, but also because it displayed one of the craziest things ever witnessed in the history of brawls.
Check out the link below to refresh your memory because it's been a few months and you've likely forgotten this ugly scene.
http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/news/story?id=3505522OK, so you've seen the footage again and you undoubtedly saw Peoria pitcher Julio Castillo enter the frame for a second before firing a baseball toward the opponent's dugout. Well, much like his efforts on the mound that day and throughout his four-year minor league career, Castillio's pitch was off the mark and sailed into the stands where it hit an unsuspecting fan in the forehead.
On Wednesday, Castillo was indicted on two
counts of felonious assault and could face up to 16 years in prison. Castillo's lawyers argued that penalties for bench-clearing brawls in baseball are usually sanctioned by the league itself and that his client would accept any penalty his Class-A league would hand out but that taking this case to the courts was a unprecedented and unfair. "In my research, I have found this to be an unprecedented
indictment in American baseball," Defense Attorney Dennis Lieberman said. "These are very
serious charges that could destroy this kid's chance of ever
playing baseball in the United States again."
While Lieberman's contentions could end up being accurate, there was a fairly good chance that kid wasn't going to be playing baseball in the United States again anyway. With a 3-7 career mark that included 76 walks and 75 strikeouts and an ERA near 5.00, Castillo was on the fast track to nowhere and his actions only sped up the inevitable.
I understand that we've all done things in the heat of the moment that we regret and would like to take back but there is simple no excuse for beaning a fan (intended or not) with a baseball hurling at more than 85 mph either. In this case, justice was served and hopefully it will help to keep athletes being held more accountable for their actions in the future. Just because someone commits a crime and it happens to take place on the field of play doesn't mean that a crime hasn't occurred. Case closed.
Thursday, October 30, 2008 3:34:43 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)