First meeting since ’93 brawl

baseball • Robin Ventura and Nolan Ryan spoke Friday for the first time since their infamous brawl 19 seasons ago.

Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher who is the Texas Rangers president, went to the visitors’ clubhouse before the season opener at Rangers Ballpark to wish good luck to Ventura before his managerial debut for the Chicago White Sox.

“We just talked,” Ventura said after Chicago’s 3-2 loss to the two-time defending American League-champion Rangers. “I congratulated him on the last couple of years. He’s done a great job.”

It was their first meeting since 1993 at old Arlington Stadium when Ventura, then a 26-year-old White Sox third baseman, charged the mound. Ryan, 20 years older, got Ventura in a headlock and landed several blows.

Both have insisted there was no animosity, and they had just never crossed paths for a meeting before Friday.

“It was just one of those things and it kind of took a life of its own,” Ryan said.