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Rangers pitcher was instigator, not victim, of bar fight
Nothing like hitting the Cleveland bar scene with noted dingus A.J. Pierzynski and then stirring up a couple of swinging fists.
Texas Rangers pitcher and his most-Texas-ever name, Tanner Scheppers, was out on the town during a recent road trip. In his posse were Pierzynski, Joe Nathan, and "a bunch of girls."
Originally, when Scheppers sat out of a game due to a headache from being 'sucker punched,' by roughnecks outside a bar, he was pitied and sympathized, but Cleveland Scene magazine wasn't satisfied with such an oddly proactive decription of their natives.
Digging into the story, Cleveland Scene interviewed a witnesses and discovered that Scheppers was hardly the innocent victim.
...Tanner was a verbal instigator.... He had been jawing back and forth for a few minutes before the physical altercation took place.... "He lost a bar fight," says the witness. "He had 10 chances to walk away before this happened."