St. Paul's Tim Tschida, a major league umpire for 27 seasons (1986-2012), and I had a two-hour conversation Wednesday. The result is a piece in Sunday's Strib, lengthy, although not adequate for a memoir that could be titled "Travels with Tim.''
Fortunately, Patrick Plus is here on Sundays merely to serve, and Tschida's recollection of the Angels-Royals outbreak of brawls on June 2, 1998, in Royals Stadium demands a retelling.
Tschida: "I had the plate and we had nothing going on between the clubs. Then, in the fifth, the Royals' Chris Haney hits Phil Nevin where the neck meets the shoulder, and then gives Nevin a stare.
"I'm thinking, 'What's this?' But we go along, and Jim Pittsley is now in for K.C. in the seventh, and then he hits Nevin in the same place. Phil charges the mound and Pittsley tackles him. We get that one calmed down, throw out Pittsley and Nevin, and issue the warnings.''
The Angels retaliated in the seventh with Rich DeLucia hitting Dean Palmer. Kansas City's Scott Service hit Darin Erstad in the top of the ninth. Players on field; no punches thrown.
Tschida: "We got to the bottom of the ninth with a feeling, 'We might get out of this.' Then, Mike Holtz throws at Jose Offerman and everyone comes charging. That little K.C. infielder [Felix Martinez] landed a sucker punch [on Frank Bolick], and then they had him in the middle of this huge, moving scrum.
"We'd already thrown out K.C. manager Tony Muser, but he charged into the scrum to rescue Martinez.''
Muser was able to pull away Martinez to the dugout, then pushed him up the tunnel toward the clubhouse. As the chaos ebbed, Tschida noted the absence of the Angels' Tim Salmon. He found him at the Royals' clubhouse, trying to pound Martinez.
Tschida: "I was walking back to the dugout with Salmon and here came Jim Edmonds, also trying to get to Martinez. I said, 'Turn around, Jim.'
"The boxscore says 12 ejections, but Salmon's missing. It was 13 ejections. I had the record, but it was beaten later by … who else? Cowboy Joe West.''
Write to Patrick Reusse by e-mailing sports@startribune.com and including his name in the subject line.
PLUS THREE
• Tschida discovered later that K.C. was throwing at Nevin because he had run over a Royals catcher when with Detroit in 1997.
• In early April 1998, Martinez intentionally kicked the Twins' Otis Nixon in the face as Nixon was trying to break up a double play. Nixon's jaw was wired for two months.
• Jarrod Washburn, notable Western Wisconsin lefty, made his big-league debut as the Angels' starter and winner that night in a 7-5 victory.
