I've just always had a problem with the dumbass double standard where it's somehow okay for a pitcher to use the ball as a weapon but heaven forbid the batter retaliates with his own weapon. Instead it's just chalked up as the pitcher protecting the "integrity of the game".
And for what? Because the batter stood in the batter's box admiring a HR too long or took too long to run around the bases? My opinion has always been if you don't want someone to show you up then stop them. Shut their ass down for the rest of the game. Scoreboard trumps everything in the world of sports.
Also, let's stop pretending that significant damage can't be done by throwing a baseball at someone. There are countless examples of players whose orbital/facial bones are fractured thanks to a fastball to the head. Also, the pitcher doesn't have to throw at the batter's head to cause a significant injury and ruin a player and teams season. A broken bone in the wrist or hand area can knock a batter out of the lineup for months and completely wreck a team's chances at competing. But somehow that's deemed an acceptable risk in order to protect the "integrity of the game" and enforce MLB's sacred unwritten rules.
And the laughable part about all of this is the pitcher usually gets handed a toothless 10 game suspension. Which equates to about 2 or 3 missed starts. Where's the justice in that?