Former relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth joined the Cubs Daily Podcast to talk about his life after retirement.
Reminiscing his illustrious career, he opened up about his famous brawl with Paul Wilson in 2003. Farnsworth was drafted by the Cubs in 1994 and made his MLB debut in 1999. He played for them until 2004 before being traded to the Detroit Tigers.
In the summer of 2003, Kyle Farnsworth was a hard-throwing relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Wilson was a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds when the two had an infamous bench-clearing brawl.
The Cubs were down 3-2 with Wilson batting when Farnsworth took to the mound. It was then that Farnsworth’s inside pitch provoked a reaction from Wilson that led to the brawl. After an exchange of words, both players charged at each other, resulting in Farnsworth spearing Wilson and slamming him to the ground.
In Kyle Farnsworth’s words:
“The ball just got away from me, kind of up and in. He just didn’t take too kindly to it, and okay, I get it. But I definitely wasn’t trying to hit him. It definitely surprised me when he came out after me. And so, you know, that’s when he said some cuss words towards me, and I said some cuss words towards him. That’s when he threw his bat down and I just reacted, threw my glove, and picked him up and threw him down.”
What became of Kyle Farnsworth and Paul Wilson after their showdown in 2003?
Paul Wilson had an average career in MLB, playing for the New York Mets, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cincinnati Reds.
After the 2003 incident, he won a career-high 11 games in 2004 for the Reds. In 2005, he was the starting pitcher against the Dodgers but was unable to get any of the batters out in the first innings. He was eventually released by the Reds in 2007 after failing to recover from a shoulder injury.
Kyle Farnsworth, meanwhile, had a decent stint with the Chicago Cubs until 2004 after which he bounced between several MLB teams, including the Yankees, the Mets and the Astros.
After being outrighted off the roster by the Astros, he joined the Mexican Baseball League midway through the 2015 season. He later went on to join amateur football team Orlando Phantoms and played on the defensive line for them for three seasons.
Despite their long careers, the highlight will always be the 2003 incident, which has been firmly etched in history as one of the most infamous moments.
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