This past Tuesday saw what was to be a night for baseball. It was night not just for local Salt Lake Bees fans, but fans of both charity events and high school baseball. The Taylorsville Men’s High School Baseball team was set to face the Salt Lake Bees (a local AAA minor league team for the Anaheim Angels) Tuesday night in an effort to raise money for local youth baseball leagues. The game was dubbed, “A Night of Sportsmanship and Togetherness.”As one might expect, the talent level between a local high school baseball team and a professional Minor League baseball team is vast, so this is why the professionals were told to go easy but keep it fun. Unfortunately, that message must not have reached the team’s new call up, pitcher Jacob “Mad Dawg” Thompson. What transpired was nothing short of gruesome. Mad Dawg was a wolf among sheep, as he used his intimidating 99 mph fastball often as a “brush back” pitch. Thompson has been known for his high numbers of hit batsmen and illegitimate children and tonight he did not disappoint. On the mound, he managed to hit 13 batters, sending five of them to the E.R. and leaving one who could only respond, “I like eggs” when asked any question. But the coup de grace was to come when Thompson came to the plate.
A Taylorsville team, badly depleted, managed to send a young man by the name of Tyler Hayes to the mound. Hayes, not known as a pitcher at all but more as a bench warmer affectionately, was asked to lend what abilities he had, after the “beanfest” had taken place earlier. Mad Dawg, with bat in hand, dug in against Hayes and awaited the pitch. Tyler gave it all he had and hurled the first pitch in to the catcher. Unfortunately, the pitch was off its mark and plunked Thompson on the rump. Something seemed to snap inside Thompson and everyone in the ballpark saw why they called him “Mad Dawg.”
Young Hayes realized immediately what had happened and his eyes widened, as he scrambled off the mound, in his attempt race out towards the centerfield fence and climb it. Hayes’ dreams of a quick departure from the pursuing Thompson were for not, as Mad Dawg caught the young pitcher at second base, employing a tackle that would make an NFL player cringe. The two scuffled on the ground, with Hayes mainly whimpering and clawing to get away, leaving huge gouges in the dirt. The benches cleared and tried to pry Mad Dawg off of the young pitcher. During the efforts, about a dozen players from either side came away with wounds resulting from bites. So many bites in fact, that it made the Mike Tyson incident look like bush league work. Thompson denies any connection between the wounds and his teeth. Dental records have been requested by the parents of the kids involved to prove otherwise.
When a Salt Lake Bees coach was asked they allowed Thompson to continue pitching, or start for that matter, against these kids, he replied, “Well, we figured it would help put hair on their chests.” Likewise, Thompson was asked why he charged the mound against the 16-year-old Hayes, and he responded with a fiery outburst, “It was a purpose pitch! That sonuvabitch was retaliating after I let a couple of pitches get away from me! Mine were accidents! That Tyler guy? He is a Goddamned headhunter and had to be taught a lesson!”
More Utah news at The Regal Seagull
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