That many people can't be lying.
The New York Daily News reported Monday that MLB Network analyst Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams has taken a leave of absence from his job after a Deadspin.com report surfaced over the weekend about his over-the-top behavior as manager of his 10-year-old son's youth baseball team team.
In separate reports of weekend games, Deadspin stated that Williams called an umpire - officiating a youth baseball game between 10-year-old, mind you - a "motherf-----" during a profanity-laced tirade in front of the kids. Williams had complained about numerous calls leading to arguments with umpires on the field. He also is accused of ordering his pitcher to throw a beanball at an opposing pitcher and calling an opposing player the feline slang for a woman's anatomy.
Williams, who played 11 years in the Major Leagues and earned the moniker "Wild Thing" for his blazing fastball, his sometimes inability to control that fastball and his temperament on the field, had to be restrained by two coaches after being ejected Saturday, refusing to leave the field and causing a 10-minute delay in the game.
Williams is manager of the 10U Jersey Wild, a team, which was participating in a Ripken Baseball tournament in Aberdeen, Md. Deadspin.com reported that the tournament employed a "handler" to help curb Williams' behavior Sunday after his ejection Saturday.
Deadspin recorded comments from numerous witness that called out Williams for his outlandish behavior. Deadspin.com said the video above was from Sunday's game and captures the moments when Williams called the opposing pitcher the name and then ordered the beanball.
After Saturday's incident, Williams went on Twitter claiming that the gray-haired umpire challenged him to a fight.
And on Monday, either Williams did the right thing for the first time the entire weekend by taking a leave of absence, or the MLB Network forced him to take a leave of absence and protected him by saying it was his decision.
Curiously, the MLB Network said it was "continuing to look into the matter," which suggests the leave of absence was not Williams' idea.
If that was the case, was there a legal reason that the MLB Network just didn't say it was suspending Williams indefinitely until it found out more information? Even if Williams' seemingly outlandish argument that the umpire wanted to fight him was true, his behavior escalated the situation, giving the MLB Network cause to suspend him for his behavior and casting a negative light on the network.
And it wasn't Williams' first brush with objectionable behavior during a youth athletic event. Deadspin.com reported that in 2008, he was ejected from his then 10-year-old daughter's youth league basketball game for swearing at officials.
I'm emotional when it comes to my kids," he explained later. "What I saw happening was completely unfair."
Do you think Mitch Williams' leave of absence from the MLB Network should become permanent because of this issue? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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