Americans like to pass judgment on the state of the world every time something bad happens. We look for turning points of history, without the benefit of any historical perspective — sort of like a lost man wandering through the present, too proud to ask for directions.
When Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers leaped into the stands in Detroit a few weeks ago, aided by four teammates, and began attacking fans, that became the latest popular turning point. From pundits to university professors to guys hanging out in the local barbershop, this was seen as a huge shift for sports. As conventional wisdom goes, the relationship between fans and players has now been altered forever.
It's almost as if people believed this type of thing had never happened before.
A quick trip down memory lane may be useful here.
May 15, 1912: In response to taunts from the crowd, Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers flew into a rage at Hilltop Park in New York, circled behind the third base dugout and, along with a half-dozen or so of his teammates, each brandishing a bat, went into the stands. Cobb began mercilessly pummeling Claude Lucker, a fan who years earlier had lost one hand and three fingers of the other in a printing press accident. He jumped on Lucker and drove the spikes of his shoes into his left leg, then kicked him behind the left ear.
According to a New York Times report of the day, witnesses said someone yelled, "Don't kick him, he has no hands." Cobb said, "I don't care if he has no feet."
After this incident, the president of the American League suspended Cobb indefinitely. His teammates considered this harsh punishment. After all, players should be protected from fans. They all went on strike and refused to play for two games. Finally, the president of the league reinstated Cobb, fined him $50 and fined the striking players $100 each. He also promised to increase the police presence at each ballpark and instructed all teams to remove unruly fans "whose actions or comments are offensive to players and fellow patrons."
May 25, 1922: Babe Ruth, upset at what he thought was a bad umpiring decision and insults from fans, climbed into the stands at the Polo Grounds in New York. He chased a fan over the tops of several seats, then retreated back into the dugout.
"They can boo and hoot me all they want," Ruth later told the Times. "That doesn't matter to me. But when a fan calls insulting names from the grandstand and becomes abusive I don't intend to stand for it. "
Eventually, Ruth was fined $200 and lost the position of team captain.
June 13, 1924: Umpires had to call off a game between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers when 18,000 fans flooded the field and began fighting. Eventually, police, players and employees of the ballpark in Detroit became involved. A Times report said the trouble started when the Detroit pitcher hit a Yankees batter and Babe Ruth insisted it was done on purpose.
Nov. 26, 1938: A football game between Tulane and Louisiana State was marred by, as the Associated Press put it, "general fighting among fans and players." Some fans tore parts of the stadium apart and used the pieces as clubs. When the game ended, fans flooded the field and the fighting started in earnest. "It went on 'till darkness," the AP reported.
Jan. 10, 1959: With 53 seconds left in an NBA game between the Philadelphia Warriors and the New York Knicks, a fight broke out between two players. Fans in Philadelphia ran onto the court to protect their player, and the fight spread into the stands. It took police 10 minutes to break things up, according to United Press International. Several players ended up with bruises and cuts.
May 26, 1968: A 15-minute fight broke out at a baseball game in Oakland. During the fight, a fan tossed a cup of beer into the Detroit Tigers' dugout. A player reacted by throwing a ball into the stands. The ball struck a woman, giving her a cut eye and, according to a UPI report of the day, a possible concussion.
A few observations are in order. First, Detroit has an uncanny way of getting involved in a lot of these problems. Second, there was no video of these earlier events to be played repeatedly on cable TV until Americans saw them in their sleep.
But the third is that Americans have changed in the way they react. Indiana's players aren't threatening to strike until Ron Artest's season-long suspension is revoked. People aren't just brushing aside what happened (Ruth and Cobb are still remembered among the game's most revered players).
If anything, Americans today are taking violence at sporting events more seriously than ever. Maybe, in that sense, the melee in Detroit did signal a turning point, but in a good way.
Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret Morning News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com