By Ben Fitzgerald
MLB Network analyst and former Phillies reliever Mitch Williams — aka the Wild Thing — was ejected from a baseball game for 10-year-olds Saturday after a profanity-laced tirade that included him reportedly calling an umpire a “m———-r” in front of the children, observers told Deadspin.com.
Williams coaches his son’s 10U Jersey Wild team, which was participating in a Ripken Baseball tournament in Aberdeen, Md. Deadspin confirmed through several sources that Williams complained about numerous calls throughout the game, ranging from balls and strikes to a close play at the plate that ended a Jersey Wild rally. This led to repeated arguments with umpires on the field.
One umpire finally confronted Williams after the former MLB pitcher shouted something to a parent in the stands about getting that umpire fired. The confrontation sparked a face-to-face argument one parent told Deadspin was “just like the major leagues.” Two different observers told Deadspin Williams had to be physically separated from the umpire by other coaches. Williams then refused to leave the field, causing a ten-minute delay in play; his antics led to him being banned from the tournament.
Williams gave his side of the story on Twitter:
“I was thrown out for laughing at a call.then the threatened to fight me.said pick a time and place.”
