Does anyone remember the greatest brawl in Cubs history, starring The Hawk, Andre Dawson?
The year was 1987, and the Cubs were playing the Padres in Wrigley Field. There was no team Cubs fans hated more than the Padres (except the Cardinals, of course), because of an incident in 1984 which I won’t repeat here. If you are of a certain age you know what I am talking about and don’t want to think about it again either. The Hawk had already hit a homer off Eric Show in his first at bat, and when he comes up a second time, Show beans him in the face, knocking him out cold. Sutcliffe charges the mound from the bullpen and commences to put a whuppin’ on Show. The Padres fat-assed first baseman, John Kruk, grabs Sutcliffe to save Show’s life, and the benches clear for an impressive donnybrook.
While this melee is going on The Hawk is laid out bleeding in the batter’s box, slowly coming around, shaking the dust out of his Jheri Curl, and he’s sitting up by the time everything has calmed down. As soon as the path clears, he leaps to his feet without warning and plows into Show, igniting the most epic Cubs Brawl of All Time. Ain’t nobody getting The Hawk off Show before he gets some shots in, and none of the other Cubs are gonna stop swingin’ before he does either. Part Two lasts twice as long as the original. By the time its over, The Hawk is carried off on a stretcher holding a bloody towel to his face and Show is escorted off the field and out of the stadium by security and the umpires for his own safety.
They finally started the game again, but as with most of my best Cubs memories, I can’t recall who won and it doesn’t matter.
