Frankie Francisco penalty?

[Ed S]

[7/4]

There you go...ain't that the shit?

[Jazzmoose]

Damn! We've been swinniched!

[7/4]

Damn! We've been swinniched!

[Big Al]

Maybe Frankie's penalty should be to join the Board and try to outpost Ed in one night.

Without a chair!

[Brad]

A year's suspension?  That's nuts.  I doubt he'd even get that much jail time.  Probably a few months.

Again, I repeat, why does behavior that would be unacceptable in other settings and might get you beat up be acceptable in a ballpark just because you've paid to see a game.  I see references to the fact that players should take it because they're paid money.  In that, I see inferences to the poor working stiff who gets paid to see millionaires.  What does your degree of wealth have to do with it.  Ladies and Gents, you don't check your manners and behavior when you buy a ticket.  Somehow I don't see a $20 ticket or whatever it costs now giving you the freedom to do what you want at the ballpark.

Brad, this is the way I see it:

People can say whatever the hell they want. Players are free to give it back to them, as nasty as they want. But no one physically threatened the ball player. Whatever was said, there are no circumstances where assault, let alone a violent outburst which is likely to injure other people, is called for.

Sticks and stones. Any ballplayer should be able to take any amount of verbal abuse. There is no excuse, no circumstance, and no explanation for heaving a chair into the stands.

And no, this isn't hockey either. Hockey has a tradition of fighting and its not surprising that players have gone into stands and attacked fans.

This has never happened in major league baseball before and this clown needs to be made an example for any other high strung idiots who think that verbal abuse should be met with physical violence in the middle of the game.

Dan,

Ultimately I agree with you about the physical abuse. He has to pay the price. But if you or I verbally assault someone in public, at a reataurant, bar, movie, we're going to get punched, etc. I still don't understand why you shouldn't behave at the ball park any less than you would behave in one of those public places.

Oh, Ed, the judges just ruled and you've received a mandatory 4/5th deduction, bringing your post count back to 1900 :rsmile:

[RainyDay]

This reminds of the puppy who shot the guy who was shooting unwanted puppies. I don't feel sorry for the guy who was shot and I don't feel sorry for the woman who got her nose broken. Boors like this keep the rest of us out of the ball park.

Nobody here knows what was said to make Francisco throw the chair so I'm not sure why anyone would say Mr. Fan didn't say anything that deserved getting attacked. How come no one has asked how much alcohol these fans had consumed? I'll eat my keyboard if these people weren't drunk. The film footage included a fan holding up his fists in some kind of victory gesture and grinning. He didn't seem to care that a woman was bleeding.

Francisco should get whatever the justice system gives him. I don't care much whether he is suspended or not. Frankly, I'm glad the players struck back. I laughed out loud when I read Mrs. Fan say they were so scared when the players started coming over the wall. Serves them right. A's fans and Raiders fans are notoriously uncivilized people and the worst trouble makers almost always come from the suburbs, "nice" neighborhoods. Mrs. Fan was quoted saying she was scared for her safety now and not sure she would come back to the Coliseum. Good riddance.

Finally, if my nose was broken over my partner acting a fool in public, he would need surgery to remove my foot from his behind.

[Chrome]

This has never happened in major league baseball before and this clown needs to be made an example for any other high strung idiots who think that verbal abuse should be met with physical violence in the middle of the game.

I'm all for a pretty stiff penalty, but I also remember the Albert Belle thing ... he only got a week (I think) for throwing a ball at someone ... so I'm really curious what Selig & Co. will do about this.

[PHILLYQ]

Here's a thoughtful take on the whole brouhaha by Lisa Olson of the NY Daily News(for my money, one of the best sportswriters around):

A brand-new ballgame

for Bronx crowds

Hopefully, action is the only thing they catch in seats

Miscreant Walks Upright, Part I: Texas reliever Frankie Francisco raced to the bullpen to defend the honor of his verbally wounded Ranger teammates, picks up a plastic chair, throws it into the stands, breaks a woman's nose.

Miscreant Walks Upright, Part II: Craig Bueno, husband of the injured woman, buys season tickets near the opposing team's bullpen, spends much of every game heckling visiting players, convinces himself his verbal diarrhea gives his beloved Oakland team an advantage, wonders if maybe he deserves a share of the World Series pie should the A's win it all.

"It's an American tradition," Bueno said of his inalienable right to life, liberty and obnoxiousness. No doubt, millions of like-minded folks burped heartily in agreement. If Bueno were a character on "The Simpsons," his delusions of grandeur might be forgiven. But there is something really creepy about a 42-year-old father of three teenage boys gleefully admitting he gets his jollies from screaming rude insults at ballplayers he has never met.

Francisco has no justifiable excuse - nada, zero, Gene Orza, please have the grace to stay quiet - for heaving furniture into the right-field box seats Monday night. It doesn't matter what Bueno or any other fan said, doesn't matter if the A's had their manhood questioned or their mamas vilified, doesn't even matter if racial epithets were dropped, Francisco ought to quietly accept the suspension MLB hands down and pray he isn't jailed or deported.

It's a pity Bueno can't be tried by a court where civility still matters. When he's not acting like a total nut job at Network Associates Coliseum, Bueno also happens to be a battalion chief with the Hayward Fire Department. Fair or not, a modicum of decorum should be expected from municipal servants, especially those paid to protect the public. At least we can pity his poor wife, who not only has to get her nose fixed but has to live with a guy who apparently thinks yelling brilliant witticisms like "Rangers ---" is foreplay.

There are Bueno clones everywhere, of course, and they seem to be reproducing by the inning. This weekend should be about the Yankees and the Red Sox adding frosting to a rivalry already luscious and rich. Instead, and in spite of the extra uniformed and undercover security presence, you can bet your Carlton Fisk rookie card the Stadium stands will rock, and not necessarily in a good way.

The fights that clear entire rows, the vulgarities no decent parent wants their children to hear, the forceful ejections - it's all nonsense that will resume next weekend at Fenway, when the AL East convention moves to Boston. Some might argue the fans are merely taking cues from the players, who aren't exactly waltzing when they pair up. To hear some of the Red Sox and Yankees talk, Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez have yet to be separated. Last week in Oakland, I asked Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein if he was concerned the rivalry had become too overheated.

"If I were a security officer I'd be worried about it," he said. "To me, it's on the verge of getting out of control off the field. On the field, despite the fight and despite a few examples at Game 3 (of the ALCS, when Yankee relievers pummeled a Red Sox fan who was working in the Fenway bullpen) last year, I actually think it's baseball at its best on the field. It's just two tremendous teams going at it on the highest level."

Irony being a cruel witch, we were talking on the same field where last season Carl Everett was clocked by a flying cell phone, where Ichiro Suzuki has been pelted with coins, where Boston's Manny Ramirez soon would be showered with debris just inches away from the Black Hole, that infamous spot where Raiders' fans practice a particularly nasty form of savagery. Shea and Yankee Stadium and Fenway and any joint in Philly certainly spawn their share of trouble, but players from the diamond and the gridiron insist Oakland's venom has no parallel.

"It was a real break from the normal trash you hear from fans," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said of the taunts from right field that set off Monday's highly charged melee.

That "they were mean to my guys" argument does nothing to mitigate Jennifer Bueno's shattered schnozz, or her dizzy spells and headaches. She plans to file a civil suit, a perfectly reasonable response to Francisco's reckless behavior, but doesn't seem to understand that her lawyer sounds as dumb as her husband acts by insinuating a mass conspiracy led to her injuries.

"What the Texas Rangers did is wrong," said Gary Gwilliam, the Buenos' attorney. "It's like the Abu-Ghraib prison scandal (in Iraq). It all starts at the top."

It's doubtful Tom Hicks, the Rangers' owner, held secret training sessions at which players were taught to charge mouthy punks in the stands. There are reports Bueno mocked Texas pitcher Doug Brocail's weight, and shouted derogatory things about his mother, as well as wondering loudly which reliever was going to lose the game (probably the most vicious ridicule of all). Another report had Bueno yelling a racial slur at Francisco. All we know for sure is a chair flew through the air, a woman's nose was left bloodied and broken, and the miscreants are becoming more and more impossible to dodge.

Originally published on September 16, 2004

[RainyDay]

Francisco Suspended for Rest of Season After Chair-Throwing Incident

Source: kcbs

Publication date: 2004-09-17

(KCBS/AP) - Texas Rangers pitcher Frank Francisco has been suspended for the rest of the season, after he threw a chair that hit a woman and broke her nose during a game against the Oakland A's earlier this week. Two teammates and a coach were also suspended for several games.

Pitcher Doug Brocail was suspended for seven games and reliever Carlos Almanzar and hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo were suspended for five games. Jaramillo's suspension is scheduled to begin Friday night against the Anaheim Angels.

Unless appealed, the suspensions for Francisco and Brocail were scheduled to begin Friday, while the suspension for Almanzar is scheduled to begin Saturday. All four were fined.

Francisco's suspension will be for no less than 16 regular season games in the event of an appeal, said baseball vice president Bob Watson.

Francisco threw the chair into the right-field box seats and hit two spectators in the head on Monday night during Texas' 7-6, 10-inning loss. With two outs in the ninth inning, the Rangers' Alfonso Soriano tied the game 5-5 with his second homer of the night. Moments later, with Hank Blalock at the plate, the Texas bench and bullpen cleared.

Francisco was arrested and taken from the stadium to jail, where he was booked and his mug shot was taken. He was released about two hours later on $15,000 bail.

Jennifer Bueno, whose nose was broken, said Wednesday she plans to seek compensation for her injuries once prosecutors and baseball officials complete their investigation.

Earlier this week, Francisco's attorney, Rick Minkoff, said the player rushed out of the dugout to defend his teammates, and was pushed up against a fence in the crush of fans and players.

Francisco, 25, was the American League rookie of the month for August, when he was 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA.

(Copyright 2004 by KCBS. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

(3:25pm, gcb)

[sheldonm]

Finally, if my nose was broken over my partner acting a fool in public, he would need surgery to remove my foot from his behind.

[RainyDay]

In today's SF Chronicle:

No tears here for brash fan

C.W. Nevius

Saturday, September 18, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's just stipulate right off the bat that Frank Francisco is a moron.

As everyone knows, the Texas relief pitcher broke a fan's nose when he heaved a folding chair into the stands at an Oakland A's game this week. He's been suspended from the team and may face criminal charges.

Good. What he did was stupid.

But now we're supposed to feel sorry for poor Craig Bueno, who taunted the Texas players Monday night until they lost control and charged the stands at Network Associates Coliseum?

I don't think so.

We've all sat near someone like Craig Bueno at a game. You know the type. He thinks he's part of the game. He wants everyone to hear him rag tirelessly on the other team. Some of us go to watch professional athletes play at the highest level of sport. He goes with the fervent hope that he can become the center of attention.

Good job, Craig. It worked. You are now the center of attention.

Bueno says he didn't use any profanity in his taunts. Terrific. But have you seen the footage of the melee? Is it his contention that virtually the entire Texas roster lost their minds?

As Francisco's attorney Rick Minkoff notes, Doug Brocail -- the pitcher who was so beside himself with rage at Bueno's taunts that it took several teammates to restrain him -- is a 10-year big-league veteran. He's 37. Do you think this is the first time he's been heckled?

Of course not.

"I don't know what the hell set him off,'' says Gary Gwilliam, Bueno's attorney. "Brocail came out of nowhere.''

C'mon. Bueno said something. And when it got the players going, he gleefully stepped it up. As he said at a news conference, he asked for tickets near the visiting bullpen "so we can get on them a little bit.''

"Hey, if professional players can't take a little ribbing, where are we?'' asks Gwilliam. (In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit one of Gwilliam's partners at Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli & Brewer is my brother-in-law, although I doubt he'll be inviting me to play golf after reading this.)

However, the usual reaction when several large men are so angry with you that they must be restrained from doing you physical harm would be concern, or perhaps the thought you might have gone too far and ought to shut up.

Not Bueno. In snippets of video, he seems to be waving to Rangers players in the familiar "Bring it on'' gesture. Come and get me, he is saying, knowing that if they do, the players will be the ones to suffer the consequences.

And so they have.

As the action raged out of control on the field, Bueno's thoughts don't appear to have been with his wife, standing next to him, but with getting in one more good jab and really sending those dumb jocks over the edge. Of course, now that he managed to do it and that nitwit Francisco broke his wife's nose, he wants big money.

A's fans, there is your role model. Around the country, that's who they see when they think of you. One national correspondent who wrote a story entirely sympathetic to the Buenos said Oakland fans "are the worst in baseball.''

Is that what you want?

A few years ago, the Coliseum was a family place, as opposed to rough-and- tumble Candlestick Park. Now, between Raiders fans reveling in their biker image and aggravating A's fans, the Coliseum is gaining a rep as the place no one wants to play.

Well, you say, fans will be fans. What can we do?

Glad you asked. For starters, let's look at where this happened. The visiting bullpen at the Coliseum is a spilled beer from the front row. That's a bad idea. When the Los Angeles Dodgers brawled with Chicago Cubs fans in 2000, it happened at the bullpen, right next to the stands. Move the bullpen out of the way.

Second, there's gotta be a way to deal with rambunctious fans. Who wants to walk over and tap an over-the-top screamer on the shoulder and tell him to knock it off? What if he turns on you? You're not looking for trouble, you just want to watch the game.

Better to post a phone number on the scoreboard that fans with cell phones can call, anonymously, when someone is getting out of control. Report the section and row and let security deal with it. If nothing else, the sudden presence of a security guard or cop might calm things down.

Third, this isn't going away. It is time that spring training included a session explaining how to keep this from happening. Make it clear, as Francisco has discovered, that any player who throws a punch or a chair will be the one taking the blame. Lay out strong penalties for those who do something dumb, and make them stick.

But Major League Baseball also must give players, managers and umpires some way to call attention to fans who are going on and on with their taunts and insults. Bueno didn't suddenly come up with one smart remark that made everyone snap. It went on and on. Players should be able to send word of problem fans to security, and their concerns must be taken seriously. Minkoff insists Rangers players spoke to the security guard long before things got out of hand and nothing was done about it.

And finally, a word for Craig Bueno and those like him. You are not amusing. You do not represent the typical fan.

And most of all, you are not sympathetic -- no matter how much money your lawyer gets you.

E-mail C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com.