Journal article
To those who celebrate: sports journalists commemorate the Nolan Ryan-Robin Ventura brawl
Popular communication, v 23(4), pp 355-369
29 Oct 2025
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
A textual analysis was conducted on coverage by sports journalists and content creators of the commemoration of the anniversary of the 1993 brawl between Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and third baseman and one-time Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura. The fight is cited as one of the most compelling and memorable in the sport's history. The focus in this article is the commemoration of the fight. Drawing on the work of Edy, Kitch, and others who have developed the concepts of collective memory and anniversary journalism, I formulate explanations about why the fight is commemorated. By using their authority as purveyors of information and invoking the audience's fondness for physical violence, sports journalists sustain a nostalgia-rich memory of the fight that deflects attention from calls to penalize the brushback pitch and from baseball's halting attempts to punish players who instigate brawls.
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Details
- Title
- To those who celebrate: sports journalists commemorate the Nolan Ryan-Robin Ventura brawl
- Creators
- Ron Bishop - Drexel University, Communication
- Publication Details
- Popular communication, v 23(4), pp 355-369
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Number of pages
- 15
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Communication
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001604175000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105020031699
- Other Identifier
- 991022130639804721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Communication