Rewind: On this day in baseball history, Pedro Martinez threw opposition coach Don Zimmer to the ground in a scuffle between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees in Game 3 of 2003 ALCS

Whenever the Boston Red Sox play their bitter rivals, the New York Yankees, the tension and emotion in the stadium runs high. Throw a high-stakes league championship series game into the mix and you've got the perfect setup for fireworks just waiting to explode. That's exactly what happened on October 11, 2003, during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and the Yankees.

In the high-stakes affair, Pedro Martinez threw high and tight toward New York Yankee Karim Garcia during the fourth inning. Martinez then had a few words to say and gestured toward the Yankees dugout.

In the next half-inning, Yankees ace Roger Clemens retaliated by throwing near the head of Red Sox star Manny Ramirez. This sparked an all-out brawl between the two teams.

The main event of the scuffle happened when the late Yankee coach Don Zimmer, who was 72 at the time, charged Martinez. The ace pitcher then placed his hands around Zimmer's head and dropped him to the ground.

Fines were issued to those involved in the scuffle. Martinez was fined $50,000, and Manny Ramirez was fined $25,000 for the Red Sox. On the Yankees side, Karim Garcia and coach Don Zimmer were fined $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.

The Red Sox would go on to lose the series 4-3 to the Yankees. Years later, it was revealed that both Martinez and Zimmer had reconciled, with the former even stating that the incident was the lowest point of his professional baseball career.

Boston Red Sox exacts revenge a year later

A year later, the Boston Red Sox finally exorcized their 86-year drought, also known as the Curse of the Bambino, and toppled the Yankees in an exciting seven-game ALCS. It couldn't have come any sweeter as the Red Sox closed out the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

The Boston Red Sox would go on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to claim their sixth title as a franchise and first in almost a century.