A bench-clearing brawl is a form of fighting that occurs in sports, most notably baseball and ice hockey, in which most or all players on both teams leave their dugouts, bullpens, or benches, and charge onto the playing area in order to fight one another or try to break up a fight. Penalties for leaving the bench can range from nothing to severe.
This bench-clearing brawl at Fenway Park in June 2008 began with Boston Red Sox batter Coco Crisp being hit by a pitch from James Shields of the Tampa Bay Rays.
This bench-clearing incident between the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners in May 2008 followed a Seattle batter charging the mound.
Shawn Thornton fighting Wade Brookbank
In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided that he made an honest effort to avoid the pitch, although failure to do so is rarely called by an umpire. Being hit by a pitch is often caused by a batter standing too close to, or "crowding", home plate.
Joe Crede of the Chicago White Sox being hit by a pitch
Iván Rodríguez (right) of the Washington Nationals is brushed back by an inside pitch during a 2010 game at Wrigley Field.
Lane Thomas of the Memphis Redbirds is evaluated for injury after being hit by a pitch in a 2019 game.
