Seeking redemption from infamous gaffe

But perhaps the most famous former major-leaguer to put on a Northern League uniform is a name, ironically enough, that you've probably never heard before -- Randall Simon.

Ring a bell? Didn't think so.

So how famous can Simon be if you've never heard his name before this moment?

Well, remember that Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player a few years ago who, for reasons that will eternally only be known to him, smacked the Italian Sausage in the head with his bat during the sausage mascot race they hold during every Milwaukee Brewers game?

Remember how the Italian Sausage fell and knocked over the Polish Sausage? And they were both injured and had to receive medical treatment? And it turned out the person inside the Italian Sausage costume was this tiny waif of a woman named Mandy Block?

And then the player was investigated by police and ultimately charged with disorderly conduct and ordered to pay a $432 fine? And the whole thing made news all around the world and became an Internet sensation on YouTube? Remember all that?

Thought so. Ever wonder what happened to that guy? Now playing first base for the Fargo RedHawks...

"It is something very sad," Simon said here Wednesday afternoon, "that I would really like to put behind me."

Good luck with that.

It has been six years since Simon, in what he says was a spontaneous prank, slugged Block as she ran by the Pirates dugout wearing the Italian Sausage costume. At the time, Simon was in the sixth year of a major-league career, putting up respectable numbers at the plate and generally enjoying the good life.

History will record the good life took a sharp turn for Simon before the sausage had even hit the dirt that night in 2003, starting a long and slow decline that has led Simon to finally hit rock bottom here in Fargo this year.

The Pirates organization turned its back on Simon following the Milwaukee incident and he was traded to the Chicago Cubs within months.

It's something that Simon says still bothers him the most, more than the snickering and the what-ifs, more than answering the same question over and over and over again -- good Lord, man, what were you thinking?

"I was just trying to have fun like everyone else," said Simon. "I've seen lots worse than what I did. The whole thing was blown out of proportion.

"But the thing that hurt me the most was Pittsburgh at the time kind of hung me out. They never said anything on my behalf. And people at the time, I think, must have thought I really was a bad guy because my team didn't stand up for me."

After the Milwaukee episode, Simon bounced between three big-league teams over the next year before he was finally banished from the majors for good, save for a brief 23-game appearance with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2006.

While he'll forever be best remembered for his one big mistake, what is easy to overlook is that Simon put up very good numbers in the majors: In 537 games, he batted .283, drove in a run in almost every two games on average and struck out less than once in every 10 at-bats.

But when the bigs turn their back on you, they turn their back on you.

Simon played for the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League last year and then for Venezuela -- he's originally from Curacao -- at the World Baseball Classic this spring, which is where Fargo skipper Doug Simunic found him.

Simon says he's come to Fargo to seek a chance at redemption -- a chance to prove he is better than the worst thing he ever did.

It is exactly the chance Simon once bestowed on another baseball player who made a terrible mistake. Lost in all the vilification of Simon was this forgotten fact -- Simon was the man former Atlanta Braves closer John Rocker referred to as a "fat monkey" in that infamous racist and homophobic interview Rocker gave to Sports Illustrated in 1999.

"I could have made a big deal about it," Simon says. "But I said nothing. He apologized to me and I accepted his apology. He made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. But you learn from it."

Six years later, Simon is still learning from his. The hard way.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 21, 2009 C3