Today in Philly Sports History: Brett Myers Arrested for Punching Wife, 2006

Of the sins of the recent Phillies that were seemingly washed away by the 2008 championship, this was undoubtedly one of the uglier ones. On June 23rd, 2006, the Phillies were in Boston for an interleague series, including Philly starter Brett Myers and his wife Kim. Witnesses saw an altercation between the two outside the Sheraton Boston Hotel just after midnight, and alerted the police. When the cops arrived, they saw Kim, with a swollen face, crying, and arrested Brett. He was charged with domestic assault-and-battery, and released on $200 bail, posted by Kim herself. According to a statement later released by Kim, the two were both drunk, and had been arguing about what to do next in the evening, when Kim shoved Brett, beginning the skirmish. Myers was said to have struck her once or twice, and to have pulled her hair some as well. 

Brett would eventually take a three-week leave of absence from the team while dealing with his legal issues (and while the Phillies dealt with the media fallout), but having been scheduled to pitch the following night at Fenway, Myers was forced to put personal drama aside for one start, as he went against pitching idol and former Phillie Curt Schilling. Myers pitched adequately, giving up three runs in five innings for a no-decision, but the Phillies lost on a walk-off home run by David Ortiz in the bottom of the 10th inning (off ex-Sawk Tom Gordon). "It's a tough thing to go through right now," said Gordon. "We're definitely a better ball club than we've shown." Myers would not pitch again for the team until mid-July.

At an eventual pre-trial hearing that October, Kim made it clear that she did not intend to press charges on her husband, claiming it as an isolated incident not connected to any greater pattern of abuse. “He’s a loving father, he’s a loving husband," said Kim. "This is not something that happens on a daily basis, or ever." The couple has since received marriage counseling, and Brett has more or less since been accepted back into the Phillie Phold, as his work as team closer in 2007 and front-end starter in the second half of 2008 were large reasons for the team's first two playoff runs in over a decade. Still, the incident, along with a questionable press-conference moment or two, has put a permanent blemish on Myers' career in Philadelphia, and made him a perennial easy target for cheap shots from national media outlets and general Phillie haters.