Watch: Baseball Manager Throws Never-Before-Seen Tantrum After Getting Ejected
The independent minor league baseball outfit the American Association attracts weirdness the way a Walmart at 3 a.m. attracts weirdness, and the league’s capacity for the bizarre was on full display last week.
Butch Hobson, who is best known to MLB fans for being the second-worst Boston Red Sox manager of the last 30 years — he owes Bobby Valentine a debt of gratitude for grabbing that distinction off him in 2012 — is now 67 years old and managing the Chicago Dogs.
He’s also noteworthy among Red Sox fans for committing 43 errors at third base in 1978 as one of the worst defensive infielders in the history of the sport.
As for the Dogs, if that name sounds familiar, it might be because they were the opponent when Brennan Metzger of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks cracked up the lowlight-show curators by using a trash can as a visual aid to insult an umpire.
This time, it was the Sioux City Explorers in Iowa who got to play spectator to the kind of meltdown that comes with the price of a ticket in the independent minors.
Hobson, wearing a shirt that says “Weiners,” was ejected from the game Thursday.
The former big-league manager then grabbed a bat, hit an imaginary home run and ran the bases in triumph, equal parts thumbing his nose at the umpire’s authority and celebrating Hobson’s 67th birthday.
Happy 67th Birthday, Butch! As of last night, the oldest player to homer in league history 😉🎉🎉
Now time for a special birthday @ViennaBeef starting nine.
📻 https://t.co/eP0O77CdNz
⏲7:05 p.m.
🆚 @Wingnuts_ICT
📍Lawrence-Dumont Stadium pic.twitter.com/MKVZZPmrpq— Chicago Dogs (@TheChicagoDogs) August 17, 2018
The Dogs’ next opponent, the Wichita Wingnuts, used the opportunity to encourage folks in the heart of Kansas to come out to the ballgame with a “hey, look at these clowns who are playing us” tweet with video of Hobson’s antics.
The Chicago Dogs make their first-ever visit to Lawrence-Dumont Stadium tonight. Former MLB manager Butch Hobson will be with them, riding a one-game hitting streak after this "home run" last night in Sioux City 😂 pic.twitter.com/5HkHFFuRtp
— Wichita Wingnuts (@Wingnuts_ICT) August 17, 2018
It’s nice to see Butch Hobson expanding his repertoire. Previously, he was a bit of a one-trick pony when losing his marbles at an umpire.
Earlier this month, when a Dogs player appeared to get a fantastic force play at third base, the umpire called the runner safe, prompting Hobson to show up, uproot the base from its moorings, and give it to a kid at the game.
Somebody's got a case of the………………Tuesdays? It's been a weird week. @SportsCenter #SCNotTop10 pic.twitter.com/9R4D1Onr8O
— Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (@FMRedHawks) August 8, 2018
When you go out and see a comedian, it can sometimes feel a little too familiar if the comic sticks with a go-to joke a little too long to the point where it’s not really funny anymore.
And in that vein…
That’s Hobson, then manager of the Nashua Pride in New Hampshire, pulling the “literal stolen base” stunt.
When he managed the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Barnstormers in 2011, he upgraded the stolen-base act to include giving an autograph.
It’s nice to see Hobson varying things up a bit. He’s become a fixture in the dugout at independent minor league games, managing at that level since he washed out of MLB, and his antics are always fun for the folks who come out to the old ballgame.
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