Ed Whitson was hard.
When I was a kid I absolutely worshiped the San Diego Padres. I had to get every piece of Padre memorabilia and every single player’s card who was a Padre, even if they were “commons” and may not have spent much time with organization. It didn’t matter just as long as they had that SD uniform on. Also as a kid, I always thought Ed Whitson was awesome because he had 2 trips with the Padres (1983-1984, 1986-1991) and that made him twice as cool. Now that I am an adult and have learned more about Ed through the years, the dude is even more bad-ass and these 2 incidents definitely represent that:
1) Ed Whitson didn’t take shit from no one. Including his own Manager Billy Martin who ended up with a broken arm and broken ribs in a brawl Whitson. According to ESPN, on September 22nd 1985 the following went down:
The Yankee manager, who prided himself on being a top-notch barroom brawler, proved himself not so able toward the end of his career. In a bizarre bout that started at the hotel bar and then proceeded to the lobby and third floor, pitcher Ed Whitson broke one of Martin’s arms and two of his ribs after (according to Whitson) Martin “sucker-punched” him. Martin said Whitson started it. In either case, an unnamed Yankee source told the New York Times that an official investigation revealed that “Billy pursued Whitson to the lobby, then to the front door and then in the hall on the third floor. And then Billy tried to get Willie Horton to beat up on Whitson.”
There has to be security tapes of this brawl floating around somewhere as it was in a Hotel, I know people would pay good money to see this. I am sure it will never see the light of day though.
2) The following incident is well known as it happened during a game the Padres played against the Braves in Atlanta on August 12th, 1984. I am not going to go into great detail about this brawl due to the fact that it is well documented but all you need to know is that Ed Whitson was not happy about Pascual Perez hitting Alan Wiggins (rip) and let it be known by trying hit him both times he faced him until he was ejected. Then after several brawls happpen during the game, Whitson storms the field SHIRTLESS and with a baseball bat (photos below). To get the entire lowdown on this day, watch the MLB footage of it HERE and read a great article by the North County Times HERE.
All Hail Ed Whitson.
ninety feet of perfection. 
Classic!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wielding a baseball bat in a threatening manner-while shirtless, balding, and all pornostached out! Ed Whitson should have been made an honorary resident of Lakeside.
That whole episode gives credence to all of the rumors of pitchers doing speed in the majors.
Oh…and BTW…
-100 points for Champ Summers. FAIL = getting his ass handed to him by Braves fans.
I am glad you liked the post, Whitson was def a maniac. If I had a time machine, I would go back to Atlanta in ’84 decked out in Friars gear and brawl too.
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1981: And Pitching, Too! | Snow DiMaggio said this on March 27, 2013 at 11:01 pm |
I can personally vouch for Eddie Lee being just as much of a wild man off the field as well. Good times!
I was a Padres season Tix Holder at Jack Murphy from 1981 till I left there in the mid nineties. Whitson was my favorite pitcher and one of my favorite players during that time, along with Tony Gwynn and Gary Templeton. I had no idea where Ed was from, until today. We were talking about favoirte Baseball memories. And his name came up.
I have lived in Johnson City TN now for 18 years, everyone around here knows him or knows OF him. Too much fun, great memories!
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!