Minor league manager suspended over tirade with umpire

Tag : down shoe

"I regret it, I really do," Beauchamp said Friday after theindependent American Association handed down the suspension. "Idon't regret getting ejected and I don't regret trying to fire upmy team, but I think I went too far, there's no doubt about it."
Beauchamp's meltdown came in the nightcap of a doubleheader againstSioux Falls on Wednesday in Kansas.
The Wingnuts had lost a blowout to the Canaries in the seriesopener, followed by a disheartening 2-1 loss in the first game ofthe doubleheader. Believing his team was still flat, Beauchampwarned pitching coach Luke Robertson that he was probably going toget ejected on the next bad call in an effort to bring some life tohis players.
He followed through after a check-swing call by plate umpire BlakeFelix in the second inning, throwing down his hat and letting loosea flurry of expletives as he charged from the third-base coachingbox.
Beauchamp then went nose-to-nose with Felix at the plate, bobbinghis head around like some kind of pregame giveaway as he argued.
"Looking back at the video, I didn't realize my head was bouncingaround like that," he said. "I'm lucky I didn't dislocate myfreakin' neck."
But the bobblehead move was only the beginning.
After kicking dirt around the plate, Beauchamp ripped off his shoeand waved it in front of Felix, then pulled back his sleeve andstuck his armpit in the umpire's face — two gestures meant totell Felix that he stinks.
The mostly one-sided argument continued with Beauchamp accidentallykicking off his other shoe, leaving him to dance around in redstocking socks, then throwing his chewing tobacco to the ground.
"I did not spit like Roberto Alomar — it was nothing evenremotely close to what Roberto Alomar did — but in talkingsome of it (the chew) flew out and hit him in the face," Beauchampsaid. "When I saw that, I backed off and took my dip out. That wasprobably the only moment of sanity I really had because I wouldn'tspit on my worst enemy."
It didn't slow him down, though.
Beauchamp picked up his second shoe and slammed it to the turf,then went into the Wingnuts' dugout and fished out a battingdoughnut from a bag, pairing it with another to make a mock pair ofeyeglasses before slamming both weights down.
After more than a minute of rage, Beauchamp started to wind down.He retrieved his hat from near the coach's box, then shouted a fewmore choice words at Felix as he walked toward the dugout.
Beauchamp, still walking around in his red socks, waitedmomentarily at the rail for a bat boy to bring his shoes, thenfinally walked off the field.
"I just kind of melted down right there," Beauchamp said. "I justthought I could get the club fired up, but obviously looking at thetape, it definitely went further than I wanted it to go. I lost myfocus, I lost my cool and I did some things I regret."
One reason Beauchamp took it a little too far was his emotionalstate.
He spent the previous night and most of that morning in a Tulsa,hospital with his 94-year-old grandmother, who was gravely ill.Beauchamp struggled with the death of his father, Jim, a formerAtlanta Braves coach, this past Christmas and had a hard timeseeing his grandmother in so much pain.
"It was just one of those days when I was emotionally raw to beginwith," he said. "Then to lose a game like that to a team that haddominated us pretty much all season, it was just a reallyfrustrating situation."
At least Beauchamp's original intention worked: Wichita beat SiouxFalls 5-2. But now the manager won't be eligible to return to thefield until Tuesday at the start of a three-game series in FortWorth, and he'll have to pay an undisclosed fine.
The tirade was similar to one made by Mississippi Braves managerPhillip Wellman last season that was widely circulated on theInternet.
During his wild tantrum, Wellman piled dirt on home plate, pulledup a base and chucked it across the field, then pantomimed amilitary crawl to the edge of pitcher's mound, where he picked upthe rosin bag and pretended it was a grenade.
The Atlanta Braves suspended Wellman for three games. They broughthim back this season to run the Double-A affiliate.