How The "Mighty" Have Fallen

You might remember, almost three years ago, when the Arizona Diamondbacks hired former Met Wally Backman to be their manager before firing him when they discovered an old DUI arrest and his impending bankruptcy. It was a tough break, particularly when he had to take a job managing the South Georgia Peanuts of the South Coast League. Apparently, the new job hasn't given him much inner peace. The man can pull off an in-game tirade.

Backman dropped several F-bombs on [the umpire], then kicked dirt on home plate, prompting [the umpire] to eject Backman. The former New York Mets star responded to the move by tossing equipment onto the playing field. Not only did he hurl 22 bats onto the grass, he also emptied a bucket of baseballs down the third base line. The situation was made worse by the fact that Backman's foul language was clearly audible since there were only a handful of fans left in the stadium. Some of those fans were, in fact, children.

Yeah, that's a pretty quick fall from the bigs to upsetting children at a South Georgia game. Best part, by the way, was that Backman was was suspended three games ... but not for the ball-tossing. He was suspended for bitching out a reporter in the press box. That's worthy of a suspension? We thought people got medals for that.

Backman Has Meltdown [Independent Mail] Backman Suspended Again [Albany Herald]

(UPDATE: The Big Lead points out that this could be schtick for his reality show. Great.)