ESPN’s Wilbon: Nats’ Harper Should Have Hit Giants’ Strickland Between the Eyes With Helmet or Bat After Being Plunked

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Tuesday, ESPN “Pardon the Interruption” co-host Michael Wilbon reacted strongly to Monday’s fight between San Francisco Giants reliever Hunter Strickland and Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper after Strickland hit him with a 98 mph fastball.

Wilbon defended Harper for charging the mound, saying the 2015 National League MVP should have taken his helmet, which he threw in the direction of Strickland, or his bat and tried to hit the Giants pitcher between the eyes.

“You know, Bryce Harper should have taken the helmet and tried to square up and hit the guy who just hit him with a baseball, which is a weapon when thrown 90 miles an hour,” Wilbon told co-host Tony Kornheiser. “He should have hit him in the head.”

“The only thing that would have been more just than that if he had taken the baseball bat with him … if somebody’s going to throw a baseball at me that could kill me, at 100 miles per hour, I’m not going out there with bare fists, and I’m not going with a helmet. I’m going with a bat. And he’s going to eat some wood,” he continued.

Wilbon later added, “He should have tried to square up and hit him between this eye and this eye. This has to stop. These pitchers doing this, Tony, they’re playing with people’s health and livelihood … Harper should have hit him between the eyes with his helmet or bat.

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

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