For a generation, it’s the mound charge that defined basebrawl. In the third inning of an August 3, 1993 game between the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox, 26-year-old Robin Ventura stepped to the plate. On the mound? Nolan Ryan, 46, who made his MLB debut almost a year before Ventura was born.
“Plunk!” goes the ball off Ventura’s back. Th e third baseman took a couple of steps up the first base line, paused for a moment and tossed his helmet aside as he ran towards the mound. Ryan didn’t let him get there, greeting Ventura on the grass with a headlock and a flurry of punches to the head.