Ballplayer goes batty over sausage mascot
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:16 pm
MILWAUKEE — A Pittsburg Pirates baseball player apparently went a little batty, smacking a sausage-clad worker during a break in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Pittsburgh first baseman Randall Simon, 28, swung a bat at a 19-year-old female Brewers employee identified by team officials only as Mandy.
The woman was involved in a popular promotional footrace involving the "Super Team," during which four people in sausage suits race around the bases between the sixth and seventh innings. The incident, which took place in front of 22,490 fans, was also caught on camera.
Footage of foul play during Wednesday's race appears to show that as the sausages passed the visiting Pirates dugout, Simon took a two-handed swipe at the Italian sausage with a bat. The woman inside the sausage suit fell to the ground, tripping another runner identified only as Veronica.
Several seconds later, the two sausages were back on track. They finished the race, exited the field, and were treated for minor injuries, according to Brewers officials.
Simon was batting .272 on the season with seven homeruns at the time of the incident. He reportedly has a reputation around the league as a free swinger inside the batter's box.
After the game sheriff's deputies weren't playing around when they Simon from the stadium in handcuffs. He was booked for misdemeanor battery and released, said the sheriff's department.
On Thursday, Milwaukee County prosecutors decided not to file criminal charges against Simon, but the local sheriff's department did fine him $432 for disorderly conduct.
Pittsburgh first baseman Randall Simon, 28, swung a bat at a 19-year-old female Brewers employee identified by team officials only as Mandy.
The woman was involved in a popular promotional footrace involving the "Super Team," during which four people in sausage suits race around the bases between the sixth and seventh innings. The incident, which took place in front of 22,490 fans, was also caught on camera.
Footage of foul play during Wednesday's race appears to show that as the sausages passed the visiting Pirates dugout, Simon took a two-handed swipe at the Italian sausage with a bat. The woman inside the sausage suit fell to the ground, tripping another runner identified only as Veronica.
Several seconds later, the two sausages were back on track. They finished the race, exited the field, and were treated for minor injuries, according to Brewers officials.
Simon was batting .272 on the season with seven homeruns at the time of the incident. He reportedly has a reputation around the league as a free swinger inside the batter's box.
After the game sheriff's deputies weren't playing around when they Simon from the stadium in handcuffs. He was booked for misdemeanor battery and released, said the sheriff's department.
On Thursday, Milwaukee County prosecutors decided not to file criminal charges against Simon, but the local sheriff's department did fine him $432 for disorderly conduct.