Two-time All-Star Robin Ventura will return to the baseball diamond for the first time since he retired back in 2004 — this time as the newly appointed manager of the Chicago White Sox.
He will make his managerial debut on April 6, when the White Sox travel to Arlington, Texas for their season opener against the two-time AL defending champion Texas Rangers.
Fortunately for Ventura, he won't have to see clips of his brawl-starting fight with Rangers president and CEO Nolan Ryan.
The Rangers announced Friday that they will no longer show highlights of the infamous fight, as had been custom before every game in 2011, according to ESPN.
"I just thought this offseason that we didn't need to be showing that anymore," said Chuck Morgan, Texas' public address announcer and in-game presentation guru. "I watched how St. Louis treated Stan the Man during the playoffs and that's how we should treat Nolan as the face of the franchise. We'll celebrate his no-hitters and other moments."
Morgan added that they might show the clip "on the day it happened as part of the 40th anniversary moments," but that would be the only time this season.
The fight, which happened during a Rangers-White Sox game in 1993, began after the 46-year-old Ryan beaned Ventura in the back with a pitch. Ventura then charged the mound, inciting a bench-clearing brawl between the two teams.
Ryan, a Hall of Famer with seven career no-hitters, has been in the Rangers' front office since February 2008 after spending the last five years of his career in Texas. Ventura, meanwhile, was named manager of the White Sox this offseason after Ozzie Guillen left to manage the Miami Marlins.
"I also don't think it's right for us on our Opening Day to show a fight, and then that whole weekend we're going to treat Robin Ventura with respect," Morgan said. "He's the manager of the White Sox. We don't need to do anything like that."
To relive one of baseball's most legendary brawls, check out the video below.
