Former Dodgers Champion Joe Kelly Punched in Face at Youth Baseball Game, Will Press Charges

The Los Angeles Dodgers enjoyed the talents of Joe Kelly coming out of the bullpen for parts of five seasons since he first donned a Dodgers uniform in 2019.

Nowadays, Kelly is the manager for his son’s youth baseball team, but he recently revealed on the Baseball Isn’t Boring Podcast that he was punched by the sibling of the opposing team’s manager.

“She’s like, ‘Are you afraid you’re going to lose to assault?’ And all of the sudden, out of nowhere, I get my hat flicked off. So then I go down to pick it up on the ground, and turn around and all of a sudden, a fist punches me in the forehead,” Kelly said.

“I don’t care if you’re Joe Kelly or a regular coach. A physical altercation on the field in a 9-year-old game is unacceptable. It’s like the craziest, most disgusting, ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. The umpire’s like, ‘No, we’ll just end the game and you guys can have the championship.’ I’m like, ‘No, let’s just play’ … why would I want it to end like that?”

Kelly still opted for the rest of the championship to be played as his team went on a productive rally to go up by five runs after the altercation.

The competitiveness from Kelly has certainly taken a new form while he awaits a new opportunity. Kelly hasn’t officially announced his retirement yet, but hasn’t appeared to receive an offer to his liking.

It’s possible Kelly latches onto a team in the coming months, as some of his best moments in MLB came in October.

On the way to the 2018 World Series victory for Boston, Kelly had a microscopic 0.79 ERA across 11.1 innings pitched, punching out 13 and not walking any batters.

In 2020 with the Dodgers, Kelly’s ERA was just 2.45 on the road to the Dodgers’ seventh championship in franchise history. Despite not tossing any postseason innings in 2024, he struck out 35 batters to just 16 walks across 32 innings of work in the regular season.