Rick Morrissey wrote today about legislating brawls out of the game of baseball and letting two players duke it out, hockey style:

Let the two angry parties have at it, and hand out hefty fines and suspensions to any players who join in.

It works for hockey. Two guys drop the gloves, fight for a while and wait for the officials to break it up. It’s safer that way.

I hope they do this, because it will eliminate fighting from baseball.

Why?

A large amount of players seem to have toughness issues. Maybe it’s just my bias from playing hockey my whole life, but I can never get past Barry Bonds missing three games for a sinus infection. Players are out now with sprained thumbs. Kerry Wood just missed a few games for a blister. But there are always exceptions, like Curt Schilling playing through injury during the 2004 World Series.

My money says that if the MLB changes the rules and starts suspending and heftily fining the third man out, like in hockey, pitchers will become a lot more choosey about who they decide to plunk, and batters will likely be a lot more reluctant to charge the mound knowing they won’t have their teammates behind their back.

Let’s leave the tough guy business to hockey players.