Sammy Khalifa, Revisited

[Edgy MD]

Fascinating profile from the New York Times, catching up with Sammy as the trial finally occurs for the man who apparently killed his father.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/sports/baseball/sam-khalifa-briefly-a-rising-star-forever-a-mourning-son.html?ref=sports&_r=0

Mets in the narrative include Jay Bell, Bobby Bonilla, and a good picture of the younger hard-ass Terry Collins.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Out of nowhere, bam, [Kevin Mitchell] slugged Darryl [strawberry] right in the face. Then he hit him again, and knocked Straw down. It took a couple of us to pull him off, and I swear I never saw a punch that connected so cleanly. As much as I hated to see it, Mitch really did beat the hell out of Darryl. Later that year, in 1986, we were in the middle of a bench-clearing brawl with the Pirates, and amid all the mini-fights, I saw Mitch overpower Pittsburgh's shortstop Sammy Khalifa. He took Khalifa down, got on top of him, and applied a choke hold. I couldn't believe my eyes, because Mitch was doing more than just trying to beat up Khalifa; he was attempting to kill him. Indeed, Khalifa's eyes were wide and unseeing, and it suddenly occurred to me that he was being strangled to death. Several players, including a few Mets who saw what was going on, pulled Mitch off him

Heat: My Life On and Off the Diamond, Dwight Gooden with Bob Klapisch


insult to injury
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19860614&id=IrUqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9WIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6146,9020068