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Posted on 07/10/2003 6:22:43 PM PDT by Pharmboy
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon got a grilling from prosecutors and was let off with a $432 fine Thursday after bopping a woman dressed as a giant sausage with his bat. Simon was cited by the sheriff's department for disorderly conduct and fined for a swing that got more attention than any other around the majors Wednesday night.
Simon said he did not deliberately try to knock down the woman, who tumbled to the ground and suffered only a few scrapes during the popular costume race at Milwaukee Brewers games.
"That wasn't my intention in my heart for that to happen," Simon said before Thursday's game. "I was just trying to get a tap at the costume and for her to finish the race."
The 18-year-old woman, Mandy Block, was among four people dressed as an oversized bratwurst, a hot dog and Italian and Polish sausages racing past the Pirates' dugout.
Simon took a half swing at Block, dressed as the Italian sausage, hitting her from behind. When she fell, she knocked over the woman dressed as the hot dog. The two women scraped their knees.
Simon was arrested and booked for misdemeanor battery, and told to show up at the district attorney's office. After Simon and one of the women met with prosecutors Thursday, Deputy District Attorney Jon Reddin said the two women did not think Simon meant to hurt them and "were not interested in having him charged criminally."
"It just seems ridiculous," Block told WTMJ-TV of Milwaukee. "It's like a big sausage getting hit by a bat causes all this controversy. It just seems kind of funny to me.
"It wasn't that big of a blow," Block said. "I think just because I'm so small and it's such a big costume that I tumbled."
Simon, who had said he hoped to apologize to Block before leaving Milwaukee, gave the Brewers two autographed bats for both women who fell.
He said he was just playing around.
"I thought at the moment they were trying to play with us. They were running right next to the players," he said. "I'm a fun player, and I've never hurt anyone in my life."
After the incident, Simon drew boos when he was used as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. He grounded out in the only playing time he saw.
The Pirates issued a statement saying they do not condone Simon's behavior and will address the issue internally. Simon was not in the starting lineup Thursday.
Rick Schlesinger, Brewers executive vice president for business operations, said Simon's conduct was unjustified.
"This is one of the most outrageous things I've ever seen inside a ballpark or outside a ballpark," he said. "It sickened me to see it."
On Thursday, four new people were inside the costumes, and Pirates players moved into the dugout and away from the field during the race.
"They're rounding the Pirates dugout - they've made it safely," said Robb Edwards, the Brewers announcer, to the wild cheers of fans on their feet.
Fittingly, the Italian sausage won.
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Isn't that six months picking peas?
Regardless of sausage girl's comments, his explanation seem as weak as the fine he was charged.
After seeing the video, he barely tapped the 'Brat - like enough to knock her off balance.
non-issue, to me, anyway.
Are you a lawyer, by chance?
LVM
I don't want to throw the book at the guy, but shame on him for how and his excuse why he did it.
Kudos to Mandy Block for graciously keeping this incident in it's proper perspective.
Simon's senseless act was nothing more than adolescent horseplay that backfired.
Thank-goodness nobody was seriously hurt, and let's hope that Simon has learned enough from this incident to realize that he owes the young lady something more than just a public apology.
That is kind of the point I'm making - he did not "weild" the bat.
He was trying to have some fun, sophmoric type, but he meant no harm to the unsuspecting 'Brat.
Hell, if I was a pro player looking at what, 150 - 160 games, I'd be doing stupid stuff to.
There was no intent to do harm.
LVM
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