MLB: 18 years after Randall Simon knocked down a ‘sausage’ with the bat

If you’ve been paying attention to baseball for the past 20 years, you’ve probably seen it. Even if you haven’t been paying attention to baseball, it probably somehow made its way into your video-watching orbit.

In July 2003, the then first baseman of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Randall Simon, hit one of the Milwaukee Brewers Racing Sausages with a bat from outside the visitor’s dugout. The mascot fell and the video clip surrounded television stations everywhere. It was a shocking, strange and viral moment:

Both Milwaukee and MLB took sausage hits very seriously. Simon was questioned by the police and fined for disorderly conduct. Baseball also fined him and suspended him for three games. The narrative spiraled out of control, and Simon, all of a sudden, Public Enemy No. 1. But what about the sausage? What did the sausage think?

The night of July 9, 2003 began as a typical one for Mandy Wagner, 19– Came to the Milwaukee ballpark and dressed in his six-foot sausage costume. Wagner was working at the time Miller Park during his summer off from being a student at the University of Wisconsin.

Sometimes she threw jerseys into the stands, other times she was a ball girl, but for many games she was a racing sausage. The Italian racing sausage, to be exact.

Wagner said he participated in a dozen races, and while he didn’t take it too seriously (granted there were four, now five giant cartoon sausage mascots running around a baseball field), some of the men did. Some did it for years and identified themselves as a hot dog or a brat, counting their victories after each competition.

But let’s go back to that night. Wagner and the three sausages lined up from their starting spot in the left-field corner after the sixth inning. They took off, struggling to position themselves and heading toward the Pirates’ dugout. Wagner, who was 5 feet 3 inches tall., had to fasten the six-foot sausage suit with a harness. It’s heavy on top, a bit wobbly, and difficult to move left to right, or come to a complete stop if something gets in your way. It is also difficult to see something unless it is in a straight line.

Wagner couldn’t see much of the Pirates’ dugout or Simon holding a bat along the railing (he was preparing to hit in the next inning). Seeing that the Italian sausage Moving near the dugout, Simon decided to do a playful half swing to the back of the head, probably where Wagner’s arms were. Again, the suit is very heavy on top, so even a slight bump could knock a person down. Wagner said she actually didn’t even know when she was hit because all of that happens against the costume and the noisy environment inside the stadium.

Another hot dog, with a 21-year-old woman inside, tripped over Wagner and also fell to the ground. A 16-year-old, who was running in his first sausage race as a sausage, made the most of the commotion and sped toward the finish line.

Wagner got up and finished the race, but then she and the other woman were rushed to a stadium first aid station. They had some scratches, but Wagner said it was fine. He put a band-aid on his knee and another on his little finger and assured the Brewers staff that everything was fine. Then he finally saw a replay of what had just happened on the television monitors.

But once he got home, the madness began. Friends were texting, asking if she was the one who fell. The late-night talk shows contacted her at all times of the day, so much so that she had to disconnect her family’s phone lines. She never attended any of the national evening shows. The local Milwaukee media were having field days with their headlines.

Wagner did a few interviews, but was unhappy with how the story was developing in the press. She understood that someone shouldn’t hit someone with a bat, but she knew it wasn’t malicious. Detectives came to his house to take pictures of his pinky, the named DA, Good morning america did a satellite program from his backyard.

Simon was booed during his pinch-off appearance in the top of the seventh inning and was later questioned by sheriff’s deputies after the game. He was arrested and booked for a misdemeanor of assault, although he did not end up being charged with any crime. As mentioned above, he was fined by both the city and MLB and suspended for some games.

Pirates Public Relations She approached Wagner to apologize and offer tickets to the games, something she found very kind and gracious. Simon himself even called her.

Hearing him talk about the moment afterward, Wagner truly believed that Simon thought it was all a game and was trying to play with the pets, rather than causing some harm. Simon also sent him the bat from the July 9 episode, with his signature on the front.

The Curaçao Department of Tourism, the agency representing Simon’s home country, offered Wagner an island vacation free of charge. Simon was one of the biggest celebrities in Curaçao, appearing on billboards everywhere. Wagner accepted the offer and took his mother on the trip.

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Wagner didn’t speak too much about the incident in subsequent years because he didn’t like how the narrative was originally handled. But now that she’s older and less shy, she’s happy to share her side of the story. Former employees have had fun teasing her about the role she played that night and when she revealed herself as that hot dog to someone she dated, the reaction was mostly something like “WHAT !?”

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