Brewers, Pirates Mascots Set to Face Off

Associated Press ^ | 08/15/03 | ALAN ROBINSON

[bedolido]

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire.

The Milwaukee Brewers' racing sausages, still hot under their collars - er, casings - after being whacked by the Pirates' bat-wielding Randall Simon last month, will confront their biggest enemy this side of Jimmy Dean again Friday.

This time, rather than the sausages vs. Simon, it will be the sausages vs. the Pirates' racing pierogies in a match race during the Brewers-Pirates game. The winner will be awarded the cherished Golden Skillet for mascot-racing excellence. The loser will try to avoid being served as a main course during the seventh-inning stretch.

Pierogi makers like to play up the stuffed pasta dish's nutritional benefits, so maybe this should be called the Brats vs. the Low Fats. The sausages will be looking to hit a home run with the Pirates' fans - and, of course, avoid winding up in a bun.

Whatever happens, don't expect the sausages to get Simonized this time. Simon was embarrassed, and puzzled, by all the grief caused by what he intended as a playful tap against one of the sausage characters (for the record, the Italian Sausage) turned into the Whack Heard 'Round the World.

A bewildered Simon was handcuffed by authorities following the July 10 game, taken to a police station and fined $432 by the sheriff's department for disorderly conduct.

He also was fined $2,000 and suspended three games by the commissioner's office for swatting a costumed 19-year-old Mandy Block, causing the college student to scrape her knees and knock over another of the racing characters.

Afterward, Block seemed more amused than abused, saying, "I think the whole thing is funny." She won't race Friday; she was assigned to less-public duties by the Brewers after Sausagegate and may have retired her racing stripes for good.

Milwaukee County Sheriff Daniel Clarke fined Simon, but suggested a more fitting punishment would be forcing him to play first base in a sausage costume.

Since then, Simon - a cheerful, good-natured and non-confrontational player who grew up on the Caribbean island nation of Curacao - has been amazed and disappointed at the reception he's gotten in visiting ballparks.

"They call me `sausage killer' and `sausage beater,'" Simon said. "They yell at me and say I tried to hurt her. But it wasn't anything where I tried to hurt anybody ... in winter ball, the players and the mascots are playing all the time. Here in America, you're always seeing the players and mascots having fun."

The trouble was, Simon had a bat in his hand and offered no warning he might become involved in the race. And it happened during a relatively slow time in the sports world, so the whack was shown on video tape countless times on highlight shows and newscasts.

For Simon it's been the lowlight of an otherwise productive career, and he is trying to put it behind him. He sent Block an autographed bat that now hangs on her bedroom wall. He also apologized several times to all involved.

For a while, Simon almost didn't want to go the ballpark, discouraged an act he felt was harmless was being viewed by so many as malicious.

"My teammates kept me going, and once we started going to other cities, a lot of the mascots came up and told me they supported me," he said. "That kept me going, because they know what kind of person I am."

Next week, the sausages and pierogies will race again in Milwaukee, Simon's first trip there since he took batting practice against the sausages.

"It's getting better now," Simon said. "All the other players have supported me, and I just hope this will all be over after next week. ... Sometimes, things happen you don't understand, and I hope this will be the end to it."

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[xsmommy]

ok, my $ is on the pierogies, what say yunz....

[SoothingDave]

Pierogi makers like to play up the stuffed pasta dish's nutritional benefits, so maybe this should be called the Brats vs. the Low Fats.

Yeah, them pierogies 'n'at are real low fat. Until you pan fry them in butter, or, better yet, throw them in the deep fryer.

SD

[martin_fierro]

	It's a 'Burgh Thing.TM
Send FReepmail if you want on/off BPT list
Learn Pittsburghese!

GO FIGHTIN' PIEROGIES!

[Petronski]

I still have to laugh at the AP writer talking about how Simon hit one of the sausages and when it fell it tripped another, "causing a two sausage pile up on the third base line."

LOL

[mass55th]

Last night Jay Leno said something about an upcoming Brewers game being a Gay Day event, then went on to say that if the sausages thought they had a problem before...look out now!!

[mountaineer]

The pierogies may be low-fat, but they're all-carb, so I say they'll stand up just fine to those Milwaukee wienies.