Literature and cinema are full of great tales of revenge. It’s one of the tentpoles of storytelling, one that meets the primal bases of most everyone alive, something to which each person can relate, regardless of whether they admit.
Great revenge movies include Unforgiven, the John Wick franchise, Gone Girl, Cape Fear, the Kill Bill movies, the underrated Denzel Washington vehicle Man on Fire, Law Abiding Citizen, Munich, Road to Perdition, and, for those who love a long con, The Prestige.
Prefer great literature? John Grisham has a few with A Time to Kill and The Partner; Stephen King’s debut Carrie; and a slew of others, including Don Winslow’s The Power of the Dog, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, but especially book three, A Storm of Swords, and the granddaddy of them all, The Count of Monte Cristo.
Two of my favorite stories of revenge in baseball involve the team I most loathe: the Chicago Cubs.
First, St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson pitched in his last game in 1975. Then 39-years-old, the former fireballer was pitching on fumes, and pinch hitter Pete LaCock (who would retire a Royal) connected with one, sending it out for a Grand Slam, putting the Cubs up 7-6 in a game they’d win 11-6. All of that is true.
This next part I cannot confirm despite research, but as the story (or legend) goes, 10 or 15 years later, in an Old Timers’ Game, Gibson once against faced LaCock—and hit him with a pitch in retribution for the aforementioned Grand Slam.
True or not, it gets to the essence of the way players once played—with loooong memories.
Now, this second one is true. In 1987, the Cubs faced the Padres at Wrigley Field, and Padres pitcher Eric Show beaned Cubs’ slugger Andrew Dawson in the face. Chaos ensued. On the bump that day for the Cubbies was newbie named Greg Maddux, who evidently was going to be sent down to the minors if he didn’t obtain the win. Of course, to qualify for the win, a starting pitcher must throw at least five innings.
Maddux chose to send a message by hitting Benito Santiago—who was behind the plate when Dawson was nailed—the very next inning, costing him a chance at earning the victory and getting him shipped out of the majors.
Greg Maddux Intentionally hitting Benito Santiago in 1987…
And getting sent to the Minor Leagues after the game.
“That was way more valuable than any win I could’ve ever gotten.” pic.twitter.com/BgWIVN8vOA
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) January 14, 2025
Here we have two instances of revenge in baseball, one supposedly involving a player waiting at least ten years to extract it, and one involving a player waiting precious little time to take it, even at his own expense.
What I’m trying to say is, the Royals face the Cardinals again on June 3rd.
What I’m also trying to say is, just because Royals pitchers didn’t go after Willson Contreras after his blatantly dirty slide into second baseman Jonathan India during Saturday, May 17th’s game, doesn’t mean it’s over.
This was the first inning of yesterday’s game but I’d bet on this being the primary source of #Royals Jonathan India’s knee soreness that forced him from the lineup today pic.twitter.com/Af6cuyCyCo
— Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) May 18, 2025
I certainly understand why the Royals didn’t go after Contreras on Saturday or Sunday, though it is a little irritating. The Royals offense is in a huge slump, and giving the opponent a free base in what amounted to two one-run games isn’t going to help the offense.
Or would it? Would it have sparked something in the Royals hitters? Would it have awoken them from the malaise in which they found themselves?
We’ll never know the answer to that question. In the end, Kansas City’s pitchers completely subdued Contreras the rest of the series, as he went a combined 0-for-8, including 0-for-5 with the game-ending flyout on Sunday.
Maybe that slide will stew in the minds of the Royals. India ended up getting scratched from Sunday’s game after the original lineup included him. How many games does he end up missing?
There have been crickets from the league about any discipline on Contreras for his dirty play. There won’t be any recourse from the league.
The recourse must come from the Royals.
As Gustavo Fring told Hector Salamancha in Breaking Bad: “Sangre por sangre.”