Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake made more headlines Monday by getting arrested than he did last season by becoming just the 13th pitcher since 1965 to skip the Minors
and jump right to the big leagues.
Hhonestly, stealing $59.88 in shirts from Macy’s should overshadow anything the righty might bring to the bump…it’s just not a smart thing to do. And c'mon, dude, six shirts? You can't steal just one?!?
But it’s not like he’s the first cat to get caught up with the law and make a dumb mistake.
Here are ten others that made headlines by being an idiot
OFF the field.
DICK WILLIAMS
According to reports, the then-future Hall of Famer was walking around his hotel naked and masturbating (alledgedly) while attending a fantasy camp in January 2000. He was arrested on an indecent-exposure charge and ending up pleading no contest. This happened within two months of the 2000 Veterans Committee Hall of Fame vote and some contend that that is what kept him out of Cooperstown until 2007.
JOSE CANSECO
I hate to say it, but it is getting harder and harder to not bring up Canseco’s name in connection to something anymore. Of course, with this list, it would be criminal to not include the “Godfather of Steroids” and the October 2008 incident where he was detained by immigration officials in San Diego after trying to bring fertility drugs in from Mexico.
JULIO MATEO
While in the San Francisco Giants farm system, the former reliever was arrested on suspicion of forgery in 2008 when police discovered counterfeit $100 bills in his hotel room. The best part was what officer Christopher Enyart wrote in a police report…”Before officers informed him of why we were there, Julio stated that he did not know anything about fake money”. Oops.
SHAWN CHACON
The hard throwing righty was pretty much banished from the game in 2008 when he choke slammed Houston Astros general manager Ed Wade to the ground. A year later, Chacon was arrested at a bowling alley in Colorado in connection with more than $50,000 in unpaid gambling debts in Las Vegas.
DEION SANDERS
“PrimeTime” is known for plenty and thankfully, for him, few people remember the time in 1996 when he and a buddy were arrested for trespassing on property owned by the Southwest Florida International Airport. Why were the two men there? To go fishing. "The only defense I have is that I'm sorry,” Sanders said at the time, “but they were biting."
KEVIN MITCHELL
Like Canseco, you could make a whole list of dumb things that the 1989 National League MVP has done in his lifetime. In 1999, he was arrested for punching his father in mouth for not paying rent. Just last year, Mitchell was arrested for alleged misdemeanor battery at the Bonita Golf Club in California. And according to the internets…dude is listed as one of California's top delinquent taxpayers…owing a cool $5,184,641.51.
JOSE OFFERMAN
In 2007, former Major Leaguer Offerman found himself playing independent ball for the Long Island Ducks. In August of that year, the two-time All-Star got hit by a pitch and instead of calmly jogging to first base he did what anyone would do…he charged the mound with his bat and struck both the pitcher and catcher. And let’s not forget that Offerman is the same guy who also went on to punch out an umpire!
KENNY ROGERS
One of the most overblown incidents in recent memory occurred in 2005 when Rogers shoved two cameramen…knocking one of the cameras to the ground. One of the reporters resumed recording the pitcher and again, was shoved by the four-time All-Star. For whatever reason, this resulted in a 20-game suspension (Rogers served 13 games) and mandatory anger management classes for “The Gambler”.
LUIS POLONIA
I’ve purposely tried to omit sex crimes from this list, but what Polonia did in 1989 is pretty much unavoidable and inexcusable. While in Milwaukee on a road trip, the then-New York Yankee brought a 15-year-old back to his hotel room and had sex with her. The amazing thing, to me, isn’t that the 26 year-old outfielder couldn’t tell that the teenager he hooked up with couldn’t drive, but that he went on to play eleven more years in the bigs and won two rings with the Yankees.
CAL RIPKEN, JR.
Okay, okay…the squeaky clean Ripken didn’t get in trouble, but his Number 8 was once involved in a crime. In late summer 2009, four men stole a statue of the “Iron Man’s” Number 8 form outside of Camden Yards. Thing is, the underaged drunks probably would have gotten away with it too, if they weren’t nabbed for being “disorderly” and keeping the Hall of Famer’s statue in the back of their pickup.
And I hate to go back to Offerman…but while searching the YouTubes for video, I found this piece that includes two yucksters trying desperately to out clever one another when talking about the bat incident.
