Pro Baseball Thread

[check two]

RIP to hall of famer Willie Mccovey

[check two]

World series mvp arrested for sexual assault of kid






John Wetteland, a former World Series MVP and member of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, was arrested Monday on a charge of child sex abuse.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Wetteland allegedly abused a 4-year-old relative beginning in 2004. Authorities believe the abuse continued twice more in the following years, according to an affidavit. Here are more details from the Morning News:

Wetteland, 52, is accused of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, according to Denton County jail records. The Trophy Club resident posted $25,000 bond and was released from custody the same day as his arrest.
He had forced a young relative to perform a sex act on him, according to the arrest warrant affidavit, beginning in 2004 when the child was just four years old.
The abuse occurred at Wetteland’s home in Bartonville, the affidavit stated. It happened twice more over a two-year period, the victim said.
Wetteland pitched in the majors from 1989 to 2000, moving from starter to closer in 1990 and finding success with the Montreal Expos, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. He was named the World Series MVP in 1996 with the Yankees, but the team allowed him to become a free agent weeks later due to the emergence of Mariano Rivera. He signed with the Rangers and spent four seasons in Arlington, retiring at 33 after becoming the team’s all-time saves leader with 150 — a record he still holds.

He moved to coaching after that, and was hired as pitching coach by the Washington Nationals in 2006. But Wetteland was fired after six months due to persistent practical jokes and failing to listen to manager Frank Robinson, who asked him to stop multiple times. He was the pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners in 2009 and 2010, but that stint wasn’t without incident. In November 2009, Wetteland was hospitalized after police were called to his home to respond to a possible suicide threat. The incident was blamed on elevated blood pressure and heart rate issues in a statement released by Wetteland and the Mariners.

[check two]

RIP to Frank Robinson

[check two]

The Phillies sign Bryce Harper to a 13 year contract.

[brock]

lmao @ these loser red sox fags not going to the white house

[brock]

david ortiz was banging some dude's baby mama and he shot him?

[The Collector]

Harper didn't even make the all star game for the phillies. smh

[brock]

francisco cervelli said he's giving up catching after a sixth concussion. it sounds like he's going to be playing another position.

[check two]

The Nationals advance to the NLCS for the first time since they were previously the Expos.

[check two]

MLB umpire Joe West sues ex-player Paul Lo Duca for claiming Billy Wagner bribed him with car rides





MLB umpire Joe West isn’t limiting his dust-ups to only active players anymore.

The longtime ump is suing former player Paul Lo Duca for defamation over claims from the catcher on a podcast in May that he accepted a bribe from one of Lo Duca’s teammates, according to USA Today.

That teammate is ex-closer Billy Wagner, who played with Lo Duca in the 2006 and 2007 seasons. The claimed bribe: letting the umpire borrow his vintage 1957 Chevrolet. Lo Duca reportedly claimed that Wagner told Lo Duca he would lend West the car for a more favorable strike zone.

"Joe loves antique cars so every time he comes into town I lend him my ’57 Chevy so he can drive it around so then he opens up the strike zone for me," Lo Duca claimed Wagner said, per USA Today.

West is the longest-tenured active umpire in MLB, having worked since the 1976 season. Despite that experience, he was voted by players as the worst umpire in baseball in a Sports Illustrated poll back in 2011. However, he was also voted the fifth-best, so it’s safe to say the man is a divisive figure among players.

Lo Duca would have run into West behind hte plate frequently in his MLB career as a catcher, playing for four different National League teams between 1998 and 2008. He received All-Star honors four times, though his legacy is clouded by his admission that he took performance-enhancing drugs after being named in the Mitchell Report.

West rebuffs Lo Duca’s claims

"These statements impugn the integrity, honesty and professional fitness of Mr. West and affect his profession as a Major League Baseball umpire."

The lawsuit was reportedly filed Tuesday in New York, with West denying that Wagner ever lent him a car. The complaint also states that no game as Lo Duca describes ever occurred.

"In reality, during 2006 and 2007, the two years that Lo Duca played for the New York Mets with Billy Wagner, Joe West was the home plate umpire for a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Mets only once, Billy Wagner did not pitch at all, and the game ended on a home run, not on called strikes," the complaint reportedly said.

West’s suit also reportedly corrected the record on Lo Duca’s claiming that West had been responsible for “eight or nine” of his 15 career ejections, saying Lo Duca had only been ejected by West once.

[Sense-A]

5/6/98: Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood strikes out 20 batters and ties a Major League record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game
[email protected]: Kerry Wood ties ML record with 20 K's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pulci_SBVHk