A Phone Call to Ryne Sandberg

Ryne Sandberg, the Hall of Fame second baseman who was drafted by the Phillies in 1978 and then played 13 games in Philly before infamously being given away to the Cubs, made the news recently. But not necessarily for something good. Or even for something he was a part of.

In a downright scary basebrawl, Sandberg's team, the Peoria Chiefs mixed it up with the Dayton Dragons. During the ugly scuffle, which you can see on any number of videos on YouTube, Julio Castillo of the Chiefs rifled a ball towards the Dragons' dugout, but instead nailed a fan in the face. Interestingly, Sandberg, the team's manager, was in Cooperstown during this debacle, but I can just imagine his reaction when hearing this news...

(Phone rings)
"Hello?"

"Hey Coach! It's me, Julio!"

"Hey Julio, how are you buddy? Sorry I couldn't be there for today's game... how'd we do?"

"Well funny story, Coach..."

"Excellent, I love funny stories!"

"Heheh, ummm, yeah about that. I don't really have time to explain right now because I'm kind of in jail."

"What?!? Jail? I leave you alone for one weekend and you call to tell me you're in jail? What did I tell you about having liquor in the clubhouse?"

"Well, it was a little more than that. I kind of, umm, launched a ball at a fan's face."

"You launched a ball... wait, was he trying to run on the field to attack you?"

"Umm, no, not really. I was aiming for the Dragons' dugout and then..."

"Wait, you mean to tell me you were aiming for the other team's dugout and you hit a fan in the face??"

"Yeah"

"Okay, that's all I need to hear. From now on, you're showing up to practice two hours early to work on your pitching..."

Okay, so I jest about this sad situation, and I can't imagine the position that Sandberg's in. Hopefully they iron this out and I'm sure Castillo, and his teammates, will be punished harshly for his barbaric actions. What it comes down to is, you don't cross a man known as "Ryno" and get away unscathed... the Phils learned that the hard way.