Quote:MILWAUKEE -- In a bizarre scene during a popular costume race at Milwaukee Brewers games, Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon bopped a woman dressed as a huge Italian sausage with a bat and was arrested.


Simon


Prosecutors decided Thursday not to file criminal charges, though Simon was fined $432 for disorderly conduct.

The incident happened during the seventh-inning stretch, as four people dressed as an oversized bratwurst, a hot dog and Italian and Polish sausages were racing past the Pirates' dugout.

As they jogged by, Simon swatted the Italian sausage, who went down in a heap. The giant hot dog stumbled over the sausage and also tumbled to the ground. The two women wearing the costumes were treated for scraped knees.

"It was very strange," Pirates outfielder Reggie Sanders said.

Simon was booked for misdemeanor battery, but Deputy District Attorney Jon Reddin said Thursday that the women "were not interested in having him charged criminally" and didn't believe Simon meant to hurt them, so the battery charges were dismissed.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig issued a statement Thursday afternoon.

"Major League Baseball deeply regrets the incident that took place at Miller Park last night and extends its regards to the victims. We are reviewing the situation pending the disposition of the criminal charges against Randall Simon of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"Obviously, the type of behavior exhibited by Mr. Simon is anathema to the family entertainment that we are trying to provide in our ball parks and is wholly unacceptable.




Simon said he didn't deliberately try to knock down the 18-year-old in the sausage costume.

"That wasn't my intention in my heart for that to happen," he said before a Thursday game at Miller Park. "I was just trying to get a tap at the costume and for her to finish the race."

"I thought at the moment they were trying to play with us. They were running right next to the players," he said. "I'm a fun player, and I've never hurt anyone in my life."

Rock 102, a Milwaukee radio station, will allow listeners to take swings at a Simon pinata later in the afternoon.

Simon said after the game that he hoped to apologize to the woman before he left Milwaukee. Earlier Thursday, however, he said he had talked to her and, "I don't need to talk to her again. So I got nothing to say."

Sanders said he thought the weight of the sausage costume contributed to the fall. "It maybe made it look worse than it was," Sanders said. "It was an unfortunate situation and, hopefully, it gets resolved."

Rick Schlessinger, the Brewers' executive vice president for business operations, said he felt Simon's "conduct is just unjustified."

The Pirates issued a statement Thursday saying they do not condone Simon's behavior and will address the issue internally.

Velociti Wrote:If you look closely at the tape again, you can see that the sausage actually begins to fall before the guy hits it with the bat. Luckily, the person inside the costume isn't making a big deal about it, all she wants is the bat that he hit her with. I was thinking that she and the other people would try and sue him for mental anguish or something, but that doesnt appear to be happening.