South Coast League Alumni Update: Kash Beauchamp

Kash Beauchamp - former SCL official and former manager of the Anderson Joes - is making headlines today, after an argument with an umpire during last night's game. Beauchamp is currently managing the Wichita Wingnuts of the American Association.

Check out the video:



My take: This is part of the game. I watched Wally Backman, Phil Plantier and Cecil Fielder do similar things last year in the South Coast League and it was entertaining (and completely justified in every case). But more importantly, these things motivate players play harder. If you don't understand that, you don't understand baseball. There's really not much more to say.

UPDATE: I just saw Skip Bayless call Beauchamp childish on ESPN... Skip also inferred that Lou Pinella was childish for actions similar to this. What a load of BS - just minutes before he called managers childish, Skip was saying that it was "cute" for Manny Ramirez to make a cell phone call during a pitching change. Skip then implied that baseball should have some sort of a penalty for managers who act like children. Keep in mind, this is coming from the same idiot who has built a career on accusing NFL quarterbacks of being gay and who also claims Mike Piazza wasn't a clutch player. Oh, and according the Wikipedia, he also wants to create a US-only Olympics because all of the world's athletic talent is based in the US anyway. What a jackass.

NEW UPDATE: Scott Adamson of the Anderson Independent-Mail (Anderson, SC) has written a story on the Beachamp ejection. Adamson had a front row seat to a few of Beauchamp's ejections in the South Coast League last year. He also witnessed Wally Backman's classic "22 bat" ejection as well. And to his credit, Adamson called Beauchamp to get a quote for his story. To my knowledge, neither CNN, ESPN or any other major media outlet bothered to contact Beauchamp for the story. Getting a quote from Beauchamp doesn't fit the template of a minor league manager losing his cool on an umpire.

From Former Joe Puts on a Show by Scott Adamson:

I find it amusing when people get in a huff because a manager goes nuts.

Most times when Bobby Cox waddles out of the Braves dugout and starts waving his arms, he isn’t asking the ump for directions.

And besides, the kicking dirt on home plate routine has been done to death. I think offering up a scent of soggy shoe and underarm was a unique touch on the part of Kash.

Of course the American Association had no choice but to punish him, so he was suspended four games and fined. But as is the case with most manager-umpire showdowns, all will soon be forgiven.

“It’s definitely the end of it as far as I’m concerned,” Beauchamp told the Eagle. “One thing I’ll tell him (prior to the next game) is that it was a strategic ejection and I’ll apologize to him.”

Interesting side note: Beauchamp was a first-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1982. After leaving the game, he returned to the independent Northern League league in 1993 and he became the first independent player to be signed by a major league affiliate (he was signed by the Reds). From my understanding, Beauchamp's signing was a major boost to the credibility of several fledgling independent baseball leagues in the early 1990s.

So, in a way, Kash Beauchamp has done more good for professional baseball than Bud Selig. But Beauchamp didn't book Bon Jovi for an All-Star concert, so you won't hear a word about any of this from major media outlets.