It was the day that changed baseball forever.

The date was May 25, 2011.

The Miami Marlins were playing the San Francisco Giants in front of 41,037 at AT&T Park – what the Giants would call a sellout, but what Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully would call nothing more that “A nice crowd on hand tonight at Dodger Stadium”.

In the top of the 12th inning of a 6-6 tie, Marlins catcher John Buck led off the inning with a single to short left field off of Giants right-hander (and former Dodger) Guillermo Mota. The next batter, Marlins utility outfielder Scott Cousins, pinch-hit for right-hander Ryan Webb and laid down what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt but ended up being a force out at second base on a bullet throw by Giants All-Star catcher Buster Posey. Cousins would then take third on a one out single to right by Marlins second baseman Omar Infante.

On the very next play, Marlins pinch-hitter Emilio Bonifacio hit a fly ball to right field on which Cousins tagged up and headed for home. He arrived at the same time as the throw from Giants right fielder Nate Schierholtz did. Doing what every catcher worth his salt would do, Buster Posey blocked the plate.

There was a collision at the plate … a very violent collision. A collision so violent that it left Posey – in all of his protective gear – with a fractured left fibula and severe sprains of the medial, lateral, and syndesmotic ligaments. Cousins was called safe by home plate umpire Joe West and the the Marlins would win the game. But Posey would be lost for the remainder of the season.

As a result of the Cousins / Posey collision, Major League Baseball enacted rule 7.13, more commonly known as ‘The Posey Rule’, which reads (verbatim) as follows:

(Click on image to enlarge)

As every baseball fan on the planet knows, the Posey Rule is – and has been since the day of its inception – adamantly opposed by nearly every baseball player on the planet – including most catchers. In the simplest of terms, it wussified a game that has been played for 149 years. In other words, the home plate collision between Scott Cousins and Buster Posey on May 25, 2011 changed the game of baseball forever.

Fast-forward to Wednesday, June 13, 2018.

In the bottom of the third inning, Dodgers left fielder Matt Kemp attempted to score from third base on a two out single to right by Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernandez. Texas Rangers right fielder Nomar Mazara fired a bullet to Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos, who (wait for it…) was blocking home plate without allowing a pathway for which Kemp could score. In other words, MLB Rule 7.13 (part 2) did not apply in this situation.

There was a collision at the plate.

And even though (thankfully) no one was injured, and even though Kemp was called out by home plate umpire Sean Barber, the result was a benches-clearing brawl … just like the good old days.

It’s quite evident that Chirinos did not allow a pathway for Kemp. It’s also quite evident that Kemp was out and that home plate umpire Sean Barber had a perfect unobscured view of the play.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

It’s been quite some time since the Dodgers were involved in a good, old-fashioned benches-clearing brawl … and it was GREAT! (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

In all honesty, the ‘brawl’ was little more that a shoving match between Chirinos and Kemp and there were no (visible) punches thrown, However, it forced Barber to (rightfully) eject the pair – not for a violation of MLB Rule 7.13, but for the shoving match between the two obviously very emotional (and competitive) players.

“I thought it was a clean play,” Kemp told reporters after the game. “He was blocking the plate. I ran him over. It was pretty much that simple. And I was out.

“You saw what you saw,” Kemp added. “It is what it is. Dodgers win.”

Ironically, that win came in the bottom of the 11th inning on, of all things, a play at the plate. But this time there was no collision, there was no blocked pathway, and there were no further ejections. Instead, Hernandez somehow managed to avoid be tagged out by reaching around back-up catcher Carlos Perez after an errant throw by Rangers right-hander Matt Bush on a weak comebacker off the bat of Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes. And even though a good throw would have easily gotten Hernandez, Bush did not make one, which allowed Kiké to score the winning run in the Dodgers 3-2 victory and two-game series sweep of the Rangers.

Bush’s errant throw allowed Kiké to reach around the attempted tag by Rangers catcher Carlos Perez and touch home plate to score the winning run on Wednesday night. (Photo credit – Josh Barber)

With the win the Dodgers are now three games over .500 for the first time this season and are now (finally) at .500 at home for the first time this season. They also now trail the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks by a mere 2.0 games.

Man, I love baseball.

…and old-fashioned brawls.