Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Seeking redemption from infamous gaffe
RedHawks' Simon just wants to show he's bigger than sausage-race prank
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
- Rate this

-
-
We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high. If you thought it was well written, do the same. If it doesn’t meet your standards, mark it accordingly.
You can also register and/or login to the site and join the conversation by leaving a comment.
Rate it yourself by rolling over the stars and clicking when you reach your desired rating. We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high.
The comment period for this story has ended.
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to Goldeyes Report
-
Working in Winnipeg
A close-up look at the jobs people do and why they do them
-
Helping Haiti
Where to make donations
-
Open Secrets
Red River students mine government data banks
-
Ski with WFP
Register here to ski Asessippi with the Winnipeg Free Press
-
Random Acts of Kindness
Your encounters with goodness
Poll
Most Popular
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Falls from operating table prompt new procedures at hospitals
- Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling
- Bombers sue over cancelled Aerosmith concert
- Should have been listening, Tiger
- Councillors nix oversized rolling garbage bins
- Sinclair inquest should be an inquiry: family
- MPI playing politics with poll question: Tories
- Would you pay more to supersize your garbage bin?
- Checking out sex show all part of journalist's job
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Storm warning issued
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- City streets very slippery; several vehicles involved in crashes
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- Extended family pulls together
- Water pressure drop caused by power outage: city
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Avoid Perimeter: RCMP
- Winter storm warnings issued for Winnipeg, southern Manitoba
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Two dead after crash on Bishop Grandin
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Cheap Vancouver rentals, if tiny's OK
- Councillors nix oversized rolling garbage bins
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- City looking at adding bike lane on Pembina
- Sinclair inquest should be an inquiry: family
- Larger garbage carts may become available
- MPI playing politics with poll question: Tories
- Got more trash? It'll cost you
- No support for Winnipeg's 'Homeless Hero' in days before attack: stepdaughter
- Bombers sue over cancelled Aerosmith concert
- Take one downtown, fill it with people
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Sick days spike during blizzard
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Councillors nix oversized rolling garbage bins
- Bad cocaine results in grave illness, hospitalization
- Shielding buyers, or 'cash grab'?
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- Girl not a bully, shouldn't have been suspended, says mom
- Arrest tape kills auto-theft case
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Don't dock students for missing deadlines: NDP
- Alleged mobsters seek to stay
- RCMP investigating after video shows police beating suspect
- U.S. fighter slams Canada's 'Third World' health system
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Drunk cop crashes motorbike, gets fined
- Falls from operating table prompt new procedures at hospitals
- Site for parents' sore eyes
- Iran playing its hand
- First female boss for Destination Winnipeg
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Food for thought
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- Bone-chilling temps become hot commodity
- Sinclair inquest should be an inquiry: family
- Cyclist getting his klicks
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- A super-lab to fight superbugs
- Hutterite biography to debut despite legal chill
- Falls from operating table prompt new procedures at hospitals
- Site for parents' sore eyes
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- 'Tough guys' wanted as film extras
- Nylons still smooth as silk
- Bath & Body Works coming to St. Vital
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Winnipeg desserts are a piece of cake
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- VIDEO: A winter wonderland?
- Harper really is dangerous
PREVIOUS

0 Comments