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White Sox announcer Ed Farmer is not a fan of the Royals

Ed Farmer is here to be the Fun Police.

By Max Rieper
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Ed Farmer has a history with the Royals. As a pitcher with the Rangers in 1979, Farmer hit Royals outfielder Al Cowens in the face with a pitch, fracturing his jaw. Cowens would miss three weeks of action. In the same game, Farmer struck Royals second baseman Frank White with a pitch, fracturing his wrist. White would miss a month. Through a jaw wired shut, Cowens would say, "It's part of baseball, brushing somebody back. But nobody is that wild."

So perhaps Farmer has a long-standing enmity towards the Royals franchise, because as an announcer for the White Sox, he sure did not care for the current boys in blue.

In the eighth inning, when Paulo Orlando was trying to move Jarrod Dyson over on a bunt, Farmer opined that throwing at Orlando might be a good counter-strategy.

After Lorenzo Cain hit his game-winning home run in the thirteenth inning Saturday, and looked into the Royals dugout in celebration, Farmer had this to say:

He continued his lecture on playing the game the right way after Eric Hosmer lined out.

When re-capping the game, Farmer doubled-down on the idea of plunking Royals hitters.

Remember when Farmer took Frank White out for a month? This is what Frank had to say after being hit.

"People talk about knocking guys down, but after seeing what happened tonight, it isn't funny at all. It's frightening."

-Frank White

Years later, Cowens, as a member of the Tigers, would face Farmer, then with the White Sox. Cowens had not forgotten about what had happened. On a routine grounder, Cowens ran straight for the pitchers mound. Cowens landed a few punches, even ripping Farmer's nostrils in a bench-clearing brawl. The brawl was so violent, it led to charges being filed, potentially preventing Cowens from returning to Chicago until Farmer agreed to drop the charges in exchange for an apology. But perhaps that is the kind of violence Farmer is looking for to enforce the "no fun" rules of baseball

The Royals are a first-place team that likes to have fun with each other, but that clearly violates the unwritten rules on "how to play the game." Fortunately, we have Ed Farmer here to tell it how it is.

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