FUNNY SPORTS QUOTES \ Source: lkwdpl.org

BASEBALL HUMOR

Fans can see some truly bizarre events, by players, managers and fans alike, in minor league baseball if they come to the ballpark on any given night.

The 1993 Season

Brian Graham, who managed the Canton-Akron Indians the past two summers, recalls some odd and funny things he has seen in the Eastern League.

Graham recalled several humorous tales from the 1993 season. There was a night in Binghamton when relief pitcher Apolinar Garcia picked up from under the tarpaulin what he thought was a cute little black and white cat. He petted it and began playing with it. Suddenly, what he thought was a cat turned out to be a skunk and sprayed the startled pitcher. Garcia didn't know what hit him.

He came into the clubhouse, smelling like skunk... At first, he refused to change his uniform, but the skunk smell that emanated throughout the clubhouse, and the hostile reaction of his teammates, finally convinced him to change. Evidently, they don't have too many skunks in the Dominican Republic.

Graham also recalled the game when third baseman David Bell was ejected before the first pitch. Bell and the umpire had had an argument over balls and strikes the previous night. Evidently, the argument carried over to the next day and Bell and the ump again started having words. Bell lost both confrontations. In his disgust, Bell went to the dugout and proceeded to throw his uniform onto the field, piece by piece, much to the astonishment of the fans who had no idea of what was going on.

In the opening game in 1993, rookie Scott Bartz rubbed down starting pitcher Shawn Bryant's right arm before the game. Bartz was new to the Indians and was not familiar with his pitchers. Bryant is a lefthander. He thought Bartz would rub down his pitching arm, but he didn't. Finally, Bryant told him he was a southpaw. Bryant was the first pitcher in Canton-Akron history to have both arms rubbed down before a start.

"I heard a good story about Bob Molinaro, who managed at Canton the first year of the franchise in 1989," said Graham. He went out to dispute a call and yelled at the umpire so much that he fell to the ground on his hands and knees and passed out, right in front of a couple thousand fans. He was okay, though."

Tales from the Past
The Indians' first manager in 1989, Bob Molinaro, has some tales of his own about the Indians' first season.

"There was the night five years ago when Indians' pitcher Jeff Shaw was so angry after he walked a batter that he kicked the grass behind the pitcher's mound," recalls Molinaro.
"Unfortunately, he kicked the water sprinkler and it erupted. For nearly 20 minutes the grounds crew, also new to minor league baseball, were trying to figure out how to stop the sudden geyser in the middle of the infield. Shaw was red-faced."

One night, Molinaro was upset over the play of left fielder Troy Nell, now with the Oakland A's. "You are a horse---- outfielder, Neel," Molinaro yelled from the dugout. Nell yelled back, "You are a horse---- manager Molinaro." There was a very small crowd that night and the accoustics were perfect for the fans to hear every word.

Mike Snyder, currently a sportscaster with radio station WWWE (now WTAM) in Cleveland, was the Indians' play-by-play announcer on Canton radio the first two years of the team's existence.

Snyder remembered a game in New Britain on the Fourth of July. "There were about 2,000 fans in the park," said Snyder, "but about 10,000 were waiting outside for the postgame fireworks show to begin."

As luck would have it, a game that was moving along quickly, suddenly slowed to a snail's pace. The fans outside were getting restless and it was getting dark, just right for the fireworks.

Suddenly, the fireworks began while the game was still being played. Players in the field were diving for cover. They thought they were being attacked. Everyone was shocked and the game stopped until the show was over.

"That was the first game I ever saw that had a fireworks delay. I've heard of rain delays, but never a fireworks delay," said Snyder.