Sausage Hitter Randall Simon Still Playing

The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks have signed Randall Simon to a contract for the 2009 season in the Northern League an independent baseball team.

Simon is best known for his hitting an Italian sausage racer named Mandy Block with a baseball bat which caused her to fall and caused the hot dog Veronica Fowler to trip over the fallen sausage.

Mandy Block was the Italian sausage that Randall Simon hit in the head with a baseball bat when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates when she was an Italian sausage in the traditional sausage race.

The incident happened in July of 2003 and Simon was handcuffed after the game and paid a fine of $432. He was also suspended by MLB for three days for the incident.

To the credit of  Simon he did apologize to Block and sent her an autographed bat and even paid for Italian sausages for a section of the crowd when he returned as a Chicago Cub after being traded a month after the incident.

Simon last played in the major leagues in 2006 for the Phillies but spent time in Japan in 2005 and also played in the Mexican League that season.

He is only 33 now but it is unlikely he will ever reach the majors again.

It is sad that he played eight years in the major leagues for six different teams but he will be remembered as the player who hit an Italian sausage and had a teammate John Rocker call him a “fat monkey.”

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/news/2000/01/15/rocker_simon_ap/