Twins legend Dan Gladden retells story of fight with Steve Lombardozzi

In an appearance on the Rooster Crows podcast last month, Gladden retold the story of their front lawn brawl.

Minnesota Twins former player Dan Gladden addresses the crowd as inducted into the Twins' Hall of Fame before the game with the Texas Rangers at Target Field in Minneapolis on Aug. 21, 2022. | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Dan Gladden remembers the incident with Steve Lombardozzi well.

Last month, the Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer went into detail about the fight between the former teammates on Gladden's front lawn during an appearance last month on the Rooster Crows podcast with Rob Deer. The lead up to the incident came during a walk-off, 10-inning loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston on July 20, 1988.

During the game, Twins manager Tom Kelly pinch hit Kelvin Torve for Lombardozzi, who then went down to the clubhouse.

Gladden confronted him.

"Stay here, root for this guy. He roots for you every day," Gladden said.

Gladden told Deer that Lombardozzi was pouting, and as the game went into extra innings, there was a fan crossing the field on a cable wire, delaying the game. The fan made it all the way across the field to the TV booth before the game finally went back underway. The next pitch, Todd Benzinger hit a three-run home run for a walk-off Red Sox win. That one hurt.

"Going into the clubhouse, everybody's upset, stunned," Gladden told Deer. "There's (Lombardozzi) already dressed in the training room doing his fingernails. I said, 'Hey, you need to stay on the bench.' He says, 'Hey just calm down.' I go no."

The next day back in Minnesota, Gladden got a knock at his door. It was Lombardozzi.

"I'm playing dolls with my daughters, I had two daughters, and we weren't playing army or anything, so they had put some press-on earrings and berets and stuff, and he knocks on the door and I'm like, 'Do you want to come in?'" Gladden said. "He goes, 'No, come on outside.' So I go, 'You didn't come over here to talk?' And he goes no, and it was game on."

Gladden ended up with a broken ring finger and some scratches on his face, and Lombardozzi a black eye. The next day, the Twins took on the Baltimore Orioles at the Metrodome. Gladden had to adjust his bat and choke up, but despite the broken finger, he went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, a run scored and a stolen base. Gladden told Kelly about the finger postgame.

"(Kelly) says, 'We're going on DL,'" Gladden said. "And I go, 'Did you see my game? ... Come on.' So I played with that for like a month and did well."

Gladden played 141 games that season and slashed .269/.403/.728 with 11 homers, 62 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. And, of course, one memorable fight.