“He kicked me and I slugged him” - When George Brett opened up on his unforgettable fight with Graig Nettles during Yankees vs. Royals ALCS battle
It has been over 40 years since legendary Kansas City Royals slugger George Brett got into it with New York Yankees third baseman Craig Nettles. It happened during Game 5 of the ALCS in 1977 and is still being talked about to this day.
Brett hit a triple in the first inning, sliding into the bag pretty hard, and gave a shove to Nettles at the end. The two then went at it with both benches coming in to get in the mix.
The scrum went on for a few minutes until everybody got up and suited themselves off. Oddly enough, nobody was ejected for the brawl, but it was still on the players' minds afterward, via The Kansas City Star's Rustin Dodd.
"He kicked me and I slugged him. I didn't come into him dirty or anything" Brett said.
Brett stated that Nettles kicked him, which started the brawl, and he was not the only one saying it. Former Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto saw it too, after watching the replay.
"And ... oh, there he did. Yep, he kicked him" Rizzuto said.
Brett was able to get a few clean swings in before he was scooped up by his third-base coach, Chuck Hiller. After Brett was taken out of the situation, both sides cooled off.
Umpires decided the postseason was too significant to suspend George Brett or Craig Nettles
In most cases, this brawl would have been an easy ejection for most umpires, but not here. The crew did not want to remove any players for the remainder of the series, given it was the postseason.
"Springstein told me he wasn't going to throw Brett out. This is a championship game and not the time to be throwing players out. If this game was played in July, Brett would have been gone" Yankees manager Billy Martin said.
While the fight happened in the first inning, there was still a ton of baseball left to be played. Especially with the series tied at two games apiece.
However, the Bronx Bombers would get the best of George Brett and the Royals. They won Game 5 by a score of 5-3, advancing to the World Series to face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Bronx Bombers would end up taking down the Dodgers four games to two to take home the 1977 World Series title.