Minor league baseball player Josh Womack has crazy bat-skills

This is flippin’ sweet.  Please try this at home.  In the room that you store your valuable objects.  Also, please video tape it and then send it into me.  Thank you.

Thanks to Erik for sending this one in…..

Nunchaku baseball player awaits obscene contract offer from New York Yankees

We anticipate a fierce bidding war between the Red Sox and Yankees over this guy.

Via Japan Probe

One of the coolest baseball plays you’ll see in awhile

Fernando Perez shows he’s sneaky and has some sweet footwork in his attempt to steal home in a minor league baseball game between the Durham Bulls and Charlotte Knights.

Via Fan IQ

Hail that’ll leave a mark for sure.

Some NSFW language.  Home video of a big storm in Wisconsin last summer.

Minor league baseball: 15 players and 2 head coaches ejected, 1 player arrested for felonious assault after (allegedly) hitting a fan in the forehead with a ball, fan sent to hospital.

This was insane.  You see baseball fights, but this one gets out of control quick.  Imagine if a little kid had been struck in the head with the baseball the pitcher whipped into the stands…..

ESPN

DAYTON, Ohio — A minor league pitcher accused of throwing a ball that hit a fan in the forehead during a bench-clearing brawl was charged with felonious assault, ordered held on $50,000 bond and directed to surrender his passport.

Peoria Chiefs pitcher Julio Castillo was arrested Thursday following a fight between the Class-A Chiefs and Dayton Dragons. Umpires ejected 15 players and the teams’ managers after the 10-minute brawl ended.

Video from the game shows the 21-year-old Castillo angrily throwing a ball, but doesn’t show where it landed.

Police identified the fan as Chris McCarthy, 44, of Middletown, and said he was hit in the forehead, the Dayton Daily News reported. Fans told police that McCarthy was knocked senseless and became incoherent.

The fan was treated and released at Miami Valley Hospital on Thursday night, said hospital spokeswoman Nancy Thickel. She didn’t know the extent of the fan’s injuries.

Castillo was arraigned by video from the Montgomery County jail on Friday and ordered held on bond. Dayton Municipal Judge Carl Henderson also required Castillo, who is from the Dominican Republic, to give up his passport.

“This charge is a result of outlandish and inexcusable conduct by a professional baseball player,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. said in a statement.

If convicted, Castillo would face up to eight years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Dressed in jail blues, he stood with his arms folded behind his back and showed little emotion. He was flanked by his attorney and an interpreter. Castillo said he has been in the United States for a month and has been living with teammates in Peoria.

Defense attorney Kevin Braig had asked Castillo’s release.

“He is employed gainfully by the Peoria Chiefs,” Braig told the judge. “He has no history of prior offenses. I’ve been in contact with the club. This matter is being taken serious.”

A message seeking comment was left with Braig.

Dragons spokesman Tom Nichols said no mention of the brawl would be made during Friday’s game with Peoria, the final of a three-game series. Pregame warmups went without incident, with the players running, stretching and throwing on opposite sides of the outfield.

“I think what you’re going to find is even a more controlled atmosphere tonight,” said Jonathan Maurer, who brought his wife and their three children – ages 9, 8 and 5 – to Friday’s game.

The first few innings went smoothly, with no sign of any animosity between the teams. No batters were hit and there were few inside pitches.

The Dragons are affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds, while the Chiefs are affiliated with the Chicago Cubs.

Three Peoria batters were hit in Wednesday’s game between the clubs. After a Peoria player was hit in the top of the first on Thursday, Castillo hit two batters in the bottom half – one in the head. The second batter hit by Castillo, Angel Cabrerra, made an aggressive slide into second to break up a double play.

Castillo followed that by throwing his next pitch up-and-in, prompting Dayton manager Donnie Scott to complain to the home plate umpire. Interim Peoria manager Carmelo Martinez — filling in for Ryne Sandberg — came onto the field to join the discussion.

The two managers began arguing, and when Martinez pushed Scott, the benches emptied.

The teams protested the ejections by phone to Midwest League president George Spelius, saying they didn’t want pitchers playing in the outfield to finish the game. After an hour delay, the players who were ejected were allowed to come back and the game resumed. Dayton won 6-5.

“I wanted the game to continue, really for the fans,” Spelius said Friday. He said he warned both managers that there would be severe consequences for any further incidents in Thursday’s game.

Spelius said Friday that he spoke to the umpires about the brawl. He planned to read a report, review video footage and talk to team officials before imposing sanctions that could include fines and suspensions.

“He’ll hand down the appropriate punishments he deems necessary,” Chiefs spokesman Nathan Baliva said.

Aaron Brown, a fan who was standing in the lower section of the stadium near home plate, said the fight was sad for baseball. Players ran out of the dugout, and “all hell broke loose,” he said.

“You see paramedics running into the stands. Just when you think it ends, there is another group trying to fight. I was really surprised they continued the game,” said the 28-year-old from Columbus. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

ESPN video-very brief, but gives you an idea of how bad it got.

Fan video shot at the game, longer, shaky, cell phone footage and some NSFW language, but it gives a much better view of the entire incident.  Lots of fights…..and notice the pitcher who struck a fan in the stands with a ball picks up a bat to go after another fan that threw a beer at him.  Use your hands if you’re going to fight…..

Fans taunt Alex Rodriguez with pictures/masks of Madonna

Toronto Blue Jays fans giving A-Rod the business….

Boston Red Sox fans hoping for a kiss from the Yankee they love to hate.

Coolest pitch you’ll see today

NY Mets manager’s coaching philosophy: Always carry a blade

“I told him next time he does that I’m going to get my blade out and cut him. I’m a gangster. You go gangster on me, I’m going to have to get you. You do that again, I’m going to cut you right on the field,” quipped Manuel

Read the rest of the hilarity.

High school baseball turns ugly, ump gets (allegedly) intentionally beaned.

from ESPN.com

You’ve heard of Kill the Ump, Lynch the Ump, and Strangle the Ump, right? Well, get ready for the latest thing—Bean the Ump.

It happened on May 31 in the Georgia high school Class AAA championship game. Stephens County was losing to Cartersville 9-1 early, partly because nine straight SCHS batters had struck out. The last ring-up so hacked off superstar shortstop Ethan Martin—who had just been drafted 15th overall by the Dodgers—that he threw his helmet in protest. But that figured. Martin and his brother, Cody, who was pitching, reportedly had been complaining about balls and strikes the entire game.

So now it’s the bottom of the fourth, with Ethan playing short and Cody on the mound. The catcher is Matt Hill. There are no outs. The count is 0-1. Cody winds up and flings a very high, very hard fastball. Hill comes out of his squat, puts his glove up to catch it, then does a very funny thing.

He doesn’t.

Instead, the YouTube video will show, he drops to his knees before the ball gets to him. Doesn’t even try to catch it. Just flops to his knees, with his head looking down at the plate. Never looks up or back. The ball, meanwhile, conks umpire Jeff Scott square in the face mask. Rocks him back. Then squirts up the third-base line.

Scott Singer, who videotaped the game from behind the plate, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I don’t know what was going through their heads but … it’s like, good god!” After the game, Hill explained that he’d been expecting a curveball, instead got a fastball and just didn’t catch it.

Yeah, surrrre. I used to catch a little. Happens all the time. You’re expecting a curveball and instead you get a fastball so you say, “Boy, didn’t see that coming. I’ll just drop to my knees and wait for the next one.”

What’s worse is that Hill’s coach, Mark Gosnell, believed him! Right, Coach. And remember that time you found the school mascot tied up in a locker with a sock in his mouth? That was definitely terrorists.

If indeed this was premeditated—take a look for yourself and decide—then maybe Cody Martin should be drafted too. Say what you want, but that’s pretty good aim.

The Thieving Bastards: Baseball’s All-Time Worst Contract Team

A sample, starting at third base, Bobby Bonilla.

Third Base: Bobby Bonilla – Team Captain
Team: New York Mets
Contract: $1.19M/year from 2011 to 2035
No, you’re not reading that wrong. When Bonilla was released by the Mets, he was due $5.9M. Instead, the Mets agreed to pay him the above sum for the above length of time. You can’t make this kind of stuff up.

Only 2 Detroit Tigers on here…now if this was football……

Big contract, little reward