This is the infamous Armando Benitez beaning of Tino Martinez in 1998 that led to a bafflingly long, maniacal brawl we’re rarely fortunate enough to witness in a baseball game. As you may recall, Benitez drilled Tino in the center of his back with what had to be at least a mid-90s fastball, exactly one pitch after Bernie Williams gave the Yankees the lead with a three-run moonshot into the upper deck.

Five notes:

1) Wild, flailing Australian reliever Graeme Lloyd deserved a medal for being brave enough to go right at Benitez, who was a big, scary, temperamental dude known well for arriving to the clubhouse screaming obscenities to no one in particular.

2) Strawberry’s flying cheap shot that sent Benitez into the dugout — tremendous replay of the punch at the 7:04 mark — remains one of the most deserved cheap shots of all time. How the hell did Straw get loose?

3) When Scott Brosius (#18) realizes he’s about to go toe-to-toe with Benitez, who was eager to throw (1:45 mark) he dances in place in the hopes of chaos shifting his way. For his sake, chaos arrived and he was tackled.

4) Derek Jeter’s bizarre expressions, and hair for that matter, at the 1:30 mark. Hilarious.

5) I completely forgot that after order was restored, Tim Raines sent the first pitch he saw over the right field wall. As Kramer once said, sweet justice.

There’s so much greatness here, the nearly 15 minutes of footage is absolutely worth watching. And to whoever taped this Yankees telecast on MSG with their trusty VCR back in May of 1998, thank you.

Blast From The Past [NYaT]