"I've never seen a more classless, gutless chicken (bleep) act in my 30 years in baseball," Rizzo told the Washington Post. "With all the bounty (stuff) going on in professional football, the commissioner better act with a purpose on this thing."
Hamels says he hit the 19-year-old on purpose on the pitch. Philadelphia ended up winning the game, 9-3.
"I was trying to hit him. I'm not going to deny it."
"That's something I grew up watching, that's kind of what happened. So I'm just trying to continue the old baseball because I think some people are kind of getting away from it. I remember when I was a rookie the strike zone was really, really small and you didn't say anything because that's the way baseball is.
"But I think unfortunately the league's protecting certain players and making it not that old-school, prestigious way of baseball."
Rizzo would later fire back at Hamels' statement.
"Cole Hamels says he's old school? He's the polar opposite of old school. He's fake tough. He thinks he's going to intimidate us after hitting our 19-year-old rookie who's eight games into the big leagues? He doesn't know who he's dealing with.
"He thinks he's sending a message to us of being a tough guy. He's sending the polar opposite message. He says he's being honest, well, I'm being honest. It was a gutless chicken (bleep-bleeping) act. That was a fake-tough act. No one has ever accused Cole Hamels of being old school."
"This goes beyond rivalry and all that stuff. This points to, you take the youngest guy in baseball. He's never done a thing. And then Hamels patted himself on the back. Harper's old school. Hitting him on the back, that ain't old school. That's (bleeping) chicken (bleep)."
Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. He also contributes at Hoops Authority and Eight Points Nine Seconds. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.
