Recent news from Miami: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny bet a batboy $500 on Sunday that he couldn’t drink a gallon of milk in under an hour without throwing up. Some of Penny’s teammates kicked in on the wager, raising the ante to more than $1,000.
And now this: The Marlins batboy who accepted Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny’s dare has been suspended for the next homestand by Florida for his actions. The Marlins declined to comment on the unidentified batboy’s suspension, but Penny was angry about it. “It’s kind of ridiculous that you get a 10-game suspension for steroids and a six-game suspension for milk,” the ex-Marlin said. “It’s ridiculous that they worry about stuff like that. It shows they [the Marlins organization] don’t know anything about the game. That kind of stuff goes on everywhere. It didn’t affect the way he worked, the way he did his job.”
BTW: The unidentified batboy managed to drink the gallon of milk, but was unable to fulfill the second part of the bargain. “He drank it down to the last drop,” Penny said. “But he couldn’t hold it in. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.” (All reported by the Miami Herald)
Why suspend the batboy? What batboy wouldn’t take this dare (and money!)? If the Marlins really are unhappy about this, shouldn’t they go to the source — the players? Or maybe it should just be chalked up to boys being boys. Gosh knows worse things happen around baseball.
Update, 8:53pm: Seems the Marlins are the only ones without a sense of humor.
