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Former MLB player Nick Punto has mostly stayed out of the public spotlight since retiring several years ago. He commented on an Olympic runner who slid across the finish line at the Rio de Janeiro games, and enthusiastically attended Jim Thome’s Hall of Fame induction just a few weeks ago — where Thome thanked him by name in his speech — but other than that, LNP has been lying low (because that’s what Punto does).
Recently, there was a big throwing-baseballs-at-batters hubbub between the Marlins’ Jose Urena and the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. Acuña hit a bunch of home runs and Urena plunked him for it, something like that. Anyway, Punto used a tweet from MLB Network to weigh in with his opinion on the matter.
That’s Easy.. Hockey rules. Players fight one on one, when a player is in a vulnerable position the umpires stop the fight. The game will police itself and America’s favorite past time would be that much better. #Acuna #Urena https://t.co/y707tJ5tdo
— Nick Punto (@Shredderpunto) August 18, 2018
So LNP’s idea to make baseball better is to add more brawls.
At first blush, this seems pretty ridiculous and also pretty Punto. But the more I think about it... who doesn’t love a bench clearing brawl? Any time I hear about one in any game I immediately switch to that game on TV. Imagine if brawls just happened all the time? Hell, put an MMA fighting cage somewhere in foul territory and let’s use that puppy. Get the umpires involved too. I’d love to see Ron Gardenhire and Hunter Wendelstedt try to knock each other out. Let’s get gritty.
This has been your periodic Twinkie Town Nick Punto check in™. Here’s a link to An Oral History of Nick Punto Sliding Headfirst into First Base.
Poll
Nick Punto’s fighting idea is...
This poll is closed
-
31%
Genius
(163 votes) -
22%
Great, but not feasible
(117 votes) -
2%
Good
(15 votes) -
12%
GET MONEY
(63 votes) -
31%
Why did I read this?
(163 votes)