The Yankees vs Tigers brawl was so crazy ... there hasn't been anything like it in over 50 YEARS -- so says Larry King, who's a HUGE baseball fan.
Larry's seen A LOT of MLB in his day ... and the 83-year-old told TMZ Sports he hasn't witnessed that kind of batter-on-catcher violence since he was a young stud.
King compared it to a game where a "famous Dodger batter once hit a catcher over the head with his bat" ... but we're pretty sure he meant the 1965 classic where Dodgers catcher John Roseboro took a bat to the dome courtesy of Giants superstar Juan Marichal.
Larry pulled another gem out of the archives for us -- a Cubs vs. Dodgers brawl during BP. We did some digging ... and that one happened waaay back in '46.
But enough with the old school ... Larry got his son, Chance -- a White Sox prospect -- to weigh in on who started Thursday's base-brawl ... and the kid brought the heat!