"Ban on plate collisions seen as likely"

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by SE Minnestoa Re

Ray Fosse--One guy put out of baseball by this type of play is one too many

Alright, let's be accurate here. The hit did not directly take him out of baseball right away. It happened in the 1970 All Star game, and he retired in 1979. He played 130+ games for Cleveland and Oakland in '71 thru '73. As late as 1977, he played 89 games with Cleveland and Seattle, and batted a decent .276, including .353 in the 11 games with the Mariners. And he won two World Series rings with the A's in '73 and '74.

Also, he was misdiagnosed after the collision when an X-ray of his shoulder was read as negative. It was only after another X-ray a year later showed that he did have a shoulder fracture and separation, and that the injury healed itself improperly. If they had seen the fracture and separation initially, he might've healed properly and played many more games than he did.

So to say the collision took him out of baseball is quite a stretch. Was it uncalled for? Perhaps, but only from the perspective that it happened during an All-Star game. If this was a regular- or post-season game, it wouldn't have received the same level of criticism. And I don't believe Fosse ever considered the hit, in and of itself, as dirty. He is more bitter that Rose hasn't been very sympathetic since the play. But that's just Pete being Pete.