Rangers minor-league manager goes on crazy tirade after ejection
Frisco RoughRiders manager Joe Mikulik is known for one thing. No, it’s not his 11-year minor-league baseball career, or the fact that he has a .520 winning percentage in 18 seasons as a minor-league manager. Anyone would be proud of those accomplishments.
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Instead, the manager of the Texas Rangers Double-A affiliate is defined by something far more sinister. Any time he’s ejected from a game, he completely loses his mind.
Mikulik was at it again Tuesday. In a game against the Tulsa Drillers, Mikulik went on a three-minute tirade after being ejected from the contest.
The whole thing started after the umps enforced the new slide rule at second base. The umps ruled double-play, and that sent Mikulik into a rage. There’s a lot going on during this tirade, so we figured it might be easier if we just broke it down by event.
This ejection features the following:
- One helmet being forcefully thrown at second base
- Two overly-dramatic slides into second base
- One furiously untucked jersey
- One demonstrative call of “safe”
- One kick of the dirt
- One removal of a base
- One kicking of that base
- One kicking of the previously tossed helmet
- Three umpires being verbally berated
- One kicking of a rosin bag
- Two kicks of the chalk line on the third-base line
- Too many swear words to count
- One sad walk back to the clubhouse
This was, of course, not the first time Mikulik went crazy following an ejection. One doesn’t simply do all the thing listed above during his first post-ejection tirade. One has to work up to those things.
Mikulik has certainly had practice in that regard. He put on a similar show in 2006, when he was managing in Asheville.
He also went off during a game last season, losing his shoes in the process.
Which post-ejection tirade was the best? That’s not for us to say. Mikulik certainly puts Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus to shame, but Mikulik can get away with a lot more in the minors.
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We’re just glad Mikulik continues to be employed. It’s not often you get to see a tremendous tantrum like this, and Mikulik always delivers as far as that’s concerned.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
