Violence in sports

Sports Ethics Insights
Brawls should result in automatic ejection
Beanings and brawls make pitchers and hitters look foolish, writes SI.com columnist Phil Taylor, but, more important, there is too much potential for injury. Taylor suggests adding two rules: (1) Any pitcher who hits a batter in the face or head is automatically ejected from the game. Intent doesn't matter. (2) Any player who joins a fight is automatically ejected from the game, suspended from the next, and fined. See "Dumb and dumber," Phil Taylor, SI.com, June 23, 2003.
MLB will use bully pulpit to discourage brawling
Despite the spate of melees, writes USA Today's Rod Beaton, baseball doesn't see the need to employ the kind of fight-prevention rules that leagues such as the NBA and NHL have enacted over the years. For what MLB plans to do and what measures other leagues have taken, see "New wave of brawls concerns baseball," Rod Beaton, USA TODAY, June 23, 2003, and "How others handle fighting," USA TODAY, Ju...