Sausage Swatting Simon - What Was He Thinking?

Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon was fined $432 and cited for disorderly conduct after swiping at a sausage-wearing Milwaukee Brewers mascot with a baseball bat during Wednesday's game between the Brewers and Pirates. The strange event occured during the popular Brewers sausage race, featuring runners wearing costumes of various sausages. As the runners passed the Pittsburgh dugout, Simon hit the head of the Italian sausage mascot, perhaps harder than anticipated, bringing both her and a neighboring hotdog-costumed woman to the ground.

The two injured women, treated for minor bruises and scraped knees, declined to press charges, telling Deputy District Attorney Jon Reddin that they didn't believe Simon meant to hurt them. A fellow sausage-wearing mascot, 16-year-old Ryan Borghoff, agreed, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "He just hit the costume and she fell over. These things are so top-heavy that it doesn't take much."

Simon agrees that he did not deliberately try to knock down the female mascot. "That wasn't my intention in my heart for that to happen," he told reporters before Thursday's Brewers-Pirates game. "I was just trying to get a tap at the costume and for her to finish the race." Tonight he apologized and presented a peace offering of two signed bats.

Want to see for yourself what the fuss over concession snack mascots is all about? Rumor has it that the Milwaukee racing sausages are scheduled to compete against the Pittsburgh racing pierogies at a series between the Brewers & Pirates in Pittsburgh Aug. 15-17, 2003.