There is a story that was printed in the SF Gate newspaper from formerbig leaguer Tom Candiotti. It seems Candiotti got Ramon Martinez to intentionally drill Jeff Kent to help out his fantasy team that Candiotti had. Also, another person owned Jeff Kent and he was off to a hot start so this was a duel purpose pitch. In subsequent years, Kent was plunked by other pitchers from the Dominican Republic.

The event was sometime after April 30, 1994 as Martinez had never hit Kent before that. Kent was hitting .375 with 8 HR and 26 RBI’s in April. For the record, Kent did not leave the game.

What followed in the next few years’ borders on bizarre. Pedro Martinez hit him in May of ’97, Ramon Martinez in June of ’97 and Pedro Astacio also plunked him. But Tom Candiotti hit him 4 times in 1995. That year Candiotti only hit 5 batters for the entire season!Coincidence? I think not!

Was Candiotti hitting Kent because he was trying to help his fantasy team, or was he hitting Kent because he thought it was funny?

For the sake of the integrity of the game, should major league players be able to participate in fantasy baseball leagues?

Interesting stuff.