The oral history of Izzy Alcantara kicking the catcher

The Gray Eagle

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Aug 1, 2001
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Some may well say that this is an example of "oral histories" getting out of control, but I say it's a great read of a crazy incident involving a minor leaguer that only Red Sox fans remember:
https://theathletic.com/2684417/2021/07/02/the-karate-kick-seen-round-the-world-20-years-later-izzy-alcantaras-boot-to-catchers-face-lives-in-minor-league-lore/

It was 20 years ago today
when Izzy kicked the catcher in the face
It's been forgotten for quite a while
But on SOSH it will raise a smile
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known about for years
We know who kicked the catcher, only cause we're hardcore fans

PawSox right fielder Izzy Alcantara — after a pitch that didn’t even hit him — karate-kicked Red Barons catcher Salazar in the facemask before charging the mound.

“I remember people asking me if I wanted to file some kind of lawsuit against him,” Salazar said. “I’m like, for what?”

The fight that followed was unremarkable, perhaps even boring by baseball-brawl standards. But that spark that lit the fuse — spike hitting mask — makes it unmistakable and unforgettable. Through archives and new interviews, The Athletic has put together an oral history of that fight and its online fallout.

“People still send me little clips of it,” Salazar said.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2uGROwr-rY



Who was Izzy Alcantara? A good hitter and poor fielder. If only the AL had had the DH rule back then, he might have been a solid player for a smart team.

He’d hit .289 with four home runs in 21 major-league games for the Red Sox in 2000 but wound up in manager Jimy Williams’ doghouse for a perceived lack of hustle. True or not, that reputation stayed with him.

Earlier, Izzy had transgressed the unwritten law, after belting 2 homers:

Salazar: He pimped (the second one) like crazy.

Valent: Put the stuff in today’s game to shame. Just really pimped it.

Salazar: I’m talking, he just hit it and he just stood there, and then walked down to first base.

Shemanski: And then he came up in the eighth inning and got one between the shoulder blades (from reliever Pete Zamora).

Salazar: So, the benches cleared and nothing really happened. It was just a walk-out, stare-down thing.

Shemanski: And (Alcantara) was cocky after the game.

Zamora (Red Barons reliever): I don’t even know who (Alcantara) is. I’m new here this year. I made a mistake. If he wants to pout about it, that’s fine. I knew we needed to throw inside. I’m a lefty, and I’m not used to throwing inside to right-handers. It got away from me.

Alcantara: They got me once, but I got them twice.
They threw at Izzy, but missed him. But suddenly, it was total mayham!

Salazar: It wasn’t even close to hitting him.

Schall: And instead of waiting for the next pitch, that’s when he drop-kicked Salazar.

Knupfer: You never expect it. Kick a catcher? I’d never seen it before. It was kind of shock for a second. Like, really? That happened?

Salazar: I catch it, and I’m gonna try to make it look like a strike, kind of frame it so to speak. And that’s when he jumped back and kicked me backwards. And he takes off toward Blas. In a half a second, he’s already halfway there.
The league suspended Alcantara six games and fined him $900. Kevin Orie and Pawtucket reliever Jesus Pena were each suspended three games and fined $450. Pena’s punishment was for kicking Orie while he was on the ground.

The PawSox (understandably) went all Tony LaRussa on this and supported Izzy's suspension:

Pawtucket Red Sox: The Pawtucket Red Sox do not condone this type of behavior in any way and we do support the action taken by the league on this matter.
ProJo beat writer Bob Dick took up for Izzy though:

Bob Dick, PawSox beat writer for the Providence Journal: Izzy is basically harmless. He’s a quiet, fun-loving guy — maybe too fun-loving. He wasn’t going to take it. He wasn’t going to give in to them. He wasn’t going to risk having the next pitch hit him. So he drop-kicked the catcher. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake.
Trot and Scott Hatteberg were not horrified by the incident:

Trot Nixon (Red Sox outfielder quoted by The Associated Press a few days later): I saw it on a 2 a.m. “SportsCenter” and I thought, ‘Oh, my God! That’s going to be one of those you-gotta-see-this shows for a long time.’

Scott Hatteberg (Red Sox catcher, also quoted by the AP): I thought it was hilarious. I wanted to watch it as many times as I could.
The Boston Globe mentioned the fight — and the kick — in its next day’s newspaper, and ESPN began showing the clip almost immediately. Within two days, mentions of the fight and suspensions were popping up in Associated Press roundups published from Shreveport, La., to Missoula, Mont., and from Pensacola, Fla., to Davenport, Iowa. YouTube didn’t exist at the time, but a search for “Izzy Alcantara” on the video platform today yields multiple videos of the fight itself, plus a series of compilations of baseball fights and sports bloopers.

Surprisingly, YouTube commenters had takes. As with all things, they should get the final word:

YouTube commenter Elise Fincher: Lord I could watch him kick the catcher on an endless loop freaking hilarious.
YouTube commenter Daniel Cronin: I’ve seen it 100 times and I still crack up.
YouTube commenter Jakob With a K: I laugh every time I see it. This guy is the realist, the real MVP.
YouTube commenter jeremy castillo: He does it better than Shawn Michaels.
YouTube commenter Robby X Rules: i hate baseball…. But i think i just found my favorite baseball player
YouTube commenter MrCwizzle1: Tried this at my highschool game and I didn’t get the same applause.
 

OBPercent1

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Mar 25, 2004
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I was at the game , and the my friend and fellow season. tix holder could not believe what we had just seen . It was total chaos on the field . Izzy was taking on several guys for a bit until his teammates jumped in
 

Deweys New Stance

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He was Eric Van’s pre-SoSH binky back on the old Usenet Sox group alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox in 2000. To hear Van tell it, Izzy would have been headed to Cooperstown if Jimy hadn’t sabotaged his career.
 

moretsyndrome

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Jan 24, 2006
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Eric Van. There’s an oral history in there somewhere.
I worked down the street from McCoy and snuck out to a bunch of games back then. Wish this had been one of them.
 

Bergs

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Jul 22, 2005
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"He wasn’t going to risk having the next pitch hit him. So he drop-kicked the catcher. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake. "

This is why I subscribe to the Athletic.
 

mauf

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Finally got around to reading the article. Highly recommended.

I didn’t realize that Izzy was 28 years old when this happened, and was 27 when he got into Jimy’s doghouse the previous year. Even savvy fans 20 years ago didn’t fully appreciate the significance of age, but a reasonably forward-thinking GM like Duquette surely did — if Izzy had been four years younger, Duke would’ve fired Jimy for his obstinance. As it was, I think Duke realized that Izzy was a 4-A guy that big-league pitchers were going to figure out how to get out, and while Izzy could have helped the 2000 team more than he did, you don’t undermine your manager over a guy like that.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Nov 17, 2010
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I fucking LOVED Izzy in 2000. Was positive he was going to be a masher.

I was also 16 and thought Brian Daubach going from scab to starter was the beginning of his rags to riches journey to the Hall of Fame.

Eh. Probably would think the same thing today.