Top ejections

In honor of Mississippi manager Phillip Wellman's roll in the dirt Sunday, here is my list of the most entertaining Riverwalk Stadium ejections.

1.) April 24, 2005: Graig Merritt ejected by Brian Kennedy
This one will be hard to top, barring something like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDx_6LzfZ5Y.

Merritt wasn't even on the Biscuits' active roster. He was ejected before the first pitch when he disagreed with Kennedy's instructions to move some bullpen chairs away from the foul line. Merritt had drawn Kennedy's crew's ire earlier that season from those same chairs. He stood right at the line and signaled a home run fair. It came back to bite Merritt.

"I called him an idiot or something," Merritt said. "That's when he threw me out. There was no profanity, just 'idiot.'"

2.) Sunday: Wellman by Nick Nolde
There's major entertainment value when a manager gets down on his hands and knees to pile dirt on home plate. Wellman topped it off with a clinic on umpiring mechanics. Bravo.

3. Aug. 22, 2004: Charlie Montoyo by Andy Roberts
Biscuits hitter lays down sacrifice, home-plate umpire points fair, West Tenn catcher fields ball and throws it into left field, Biscuits run everywhere, same umpire suddenly starts yelling foul. The crew huddles and sticks with foul. Montoyo gets ejected in about 1.37 seconds by Roberts, the crew chief who wasn't the one who switched his call (that was R.J. Thompson).

To say Montoyo lingered would be an understatement. Roberts tried to walk Montoyo to the gate leading to the clubhouse, but it turned into a stroll back and forth between there and third base. It lasted at least five minutes.

4. April 24, 2007: Jim Hoff by Toby Basner
Hoff, Tampa Bay's field coordinator, is one of the nicest people in baseball and -- except for this red-letter day -- one of the calmest. One Biscuit playfully gave Hoff a phone number to an anger-management specialist the next day.

5. April 30, 2004: B.J. Upton by Steve McMullen
Upton basically snapped after being called out on close play at first base. It was the sixth inning of the second game of a doubleheader. The Biscuits, who had already settled in for a nice, long stay in last place, rallied to win on Jace Brewer's home run later that inning.

6. June 22, 2005: Xavier Hernandez by Will Robinson
It looked like a typical trip to the mound when Robinson went to break up the meeting. Hernandez mumbled something and got kicked out. I'll take a wild guess that Hernandez probably hinted that his trip to the mound would have been unnecessary if a few more strikes had been forthcoming.

7. April 20, 2005: Mississippi manager Brian Snitker by Brandon Bushee
Snitker threw his cap about 10 feet after being ejected once umpires reversed a home run and ruled a ground-rule double on a ball hit by Brian McCann. Snitker threw his cap again when he left the field.


ROAD-WORTHY MENTION
Sept. 1, 2006: Mississippi's Yunel Escobar by Jason Millsap at Trustmark Park
Escobar was thrown out ... after drawing a walk. Escobar had expressed his disapproval when a 3-1 pitch was called a strike. On the next pitch, a ball, he made an exaggerated look back at Millsap, said something and was ejected.


Note that I said "entertaining ejections," so the April 2005 brawl with Mississippi, the Delmon Young chest bump, the time Chattanooga manager Jayhawk Owens yelled and yelled and yelled, and the Elijah Dukes incidents don't apply.

Though Dukes' reaction to one ejection was pretty sweet. The next day, we had a picture in the paper that showed he was easily safe on the play that led to his ejection. He clipped out the photo and taped it on the umpires' door.