This Has Become One Famous Wingnut

By now you've seen the exquisite tirade of Wichita Wingnuts manager Kash Beachamp, who executed both the smelly shoe and the armpit maneuver in an argument with a home plate umpire in an Independent American Association game last week. Well, the commotion has still not died down. Who would have thought that forcing an umpire to smell your armpit would make you an instant celebrity? Why didn't I think of that?

As a result of the attention, the Wingnuts have received merchandise orders from other states and countries and Web site hits on Friday reached more than 130,000, more than double the usual traffic. The team is auctioning off Beauchamp's jersey and shoes to raise money for a charity in Atlanta, Ga., the home of Beauchamp's three children

But the Wingnuts players themselves are not taking it well, evidently.

"I'm a little bitter, to be honest with you," closer Byron Embry said. "Every baseball player in America who turned their television on and watched what happened wishes they had Kash Beauchamp as their manager. Everybody wishes they had a manager that will make a complete (jerk) out of himself on national television just because someone got cheated out of an at-bat."

More details on the argument here. And by the way, Beachamp was suspended for four games and won't be back until July 18, when the Wingnuts welcome the always dangerous Sioux City Explorers.

Maybe Life Will Return To Normal Now [The Wichita Eagle]