Baseball blogs have been aflutter with the antics of State College Spikes manager Gary Robinson. Robinson got tossed, pulled a base out of the ground, autographed it,and gave it to a fan.
Baseball Tonight made a big deal out of how original this was. Others are hailing it as the greatest ejection of all time.
In my ongoing quest to remind the world how awesome Butch Hobson is, however, I must point out that Butch pulled this same stunt ten years ago. Fast forward to 2:30 mark:
I still maintain that this isn’t close to Butch’s best ejection. My personal favorite will always be the time he threw his uniform shirt and undershirt on home plate before striding off the field.
And Butch Hobson has done it since then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtDReUIgVsY
(Fast-forward to 2:15)
I was going to include that one until I realized he didn’t sign the base. He does get extra credit for going all the way up into the stands to get rid of it.
Butch Hobson is a fine example of someone that grew up in a very small central Alabama town and became a household name in baseball during the 70s and 80s. After playing for the Angels and Boston, and later managing the Red Sox, he has continued managing and training players to this day. Bo Jackson was a customer of mine and a great athlete, but never was dedicated to the sport and lived his life to not only play, but to teach others his knowledge like Butch Hobson. He will never forget the things he learned next to the Cahaba river in Centreville, Alabama, where his talent began, and a legend was created. That old river has flowed a many of gallons of water under that Bibb County bridge, but never has that water fueled another athlete like Butch Hobson.