The Detroit News · May 20, 2020
Conflicted: Tigers' Daniel Norris has love-hate relationship with retaliatory pitching
Detroit — Thanks to a pandemic-induced furlough last week, I finally got around to reading my friend Danny Knobler’s excellent book "Unwritten — Bat Flips, the Fun Police and Baseball’s New Future," published by Triumph Books.
Good stuff throughout, but it was the chapters devoted to the unwritten codes about payback and pitcher retaliation that sent me back to a crazy day in Cleveland, Sept. 18, 2016, when Indians starter Trevor Bauer drilled three Tigers — including Ian Kinsler in the head — in the first three innings.
Daniel Norris was pitching for the Tigers that day and it was on him to serve up retribution. Never was a pitcher more conflicted about his duty.