Baseball Guru
07-02-2001, 08:46 PM
AAA Team Fires 80-Year-Old Usher
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) -- An 80-year-old usher with the Birmingham Barons was fired for retrieving a home run ball for a top prospect.
Lawton Dean was trying to do something nice for Joe Borchard when he retrieved the ball Borchard hit over the center field fence to give the Barons a 6-5, 11th-inning victory over Greenville.
When Dean asked permission to give the ball to Borchard, Barons president and general manager Tony Ensor told him it was against club rules. When Dean declined to hand over the ball, he was immediately fired.
Dean, whose April 11 dismissal was first reported by The Birmingham News on Sunday, said he arrived early to retrieve the ball from behind the wall, then went to see Ensor.
''I told him I would like to present it to Joe Borchard,'' Dean said. ''He said, 'You can't do that. It's Barons' property.' He asked for the ball back, but I wouldn't give it to him.''
Dean said Ensor then told him he was fired, an account Ensor doesn't dispute.
''Our employees are not allowed to get foul balls or home runs. End of story,'' Ensor said. ''He was given an employee's manual, just like everyone else, and understood the rules.''
Dean interpreted the rule differently.
''If I'd asked a Baron for an autograph, I'd have been automatically fired,'' Dean said. ''If I had earned two strikes (for other violations) already, I could have seen it coming. But I didn't have any strikes.''
Former Barons general manager and president Bill Hardekopf said rules barring employees from fraternizing with players and from retrieving baseballs were instituted in 1994, when Michael Jordan was a Baron. The rule was absolute, he said.
''Maybe I'm stirring up a hornet's nest,'' Dean said, ''but things aren't right over there.''
Dean, a retired industrial worker, said he is now supplementing his income by working as an usher at the Birmingham civic center.
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"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run."
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HOOVER, Ala. (AP) -- An 80-year-old usher with the Birmingham Barons was fired for retrieving a home run ball for a top prospect.
Lawton Dean was trying to do something nice for Joe Borchard when he retrieved the ball Borchard hit over the center field fence to give the Barons a 6-5, 11th-inning victory over Greenville.
When Dean asked permission to give the ball to Borchard, Barons president and general manager Tony Ensor told him it was against club rules. When Dean declined to hand over the ball, he was immediately fired.
Dean, whose April 11 dismissal was first reported by The Birmingham News on Sunday, said he arrived early to retrieve the ball from behind the wall, then went to see Ensor.
''I told him I would like to present it to Joe Borchard,'' Dean said. ''He said, 'You can't do that. It's Barons' property.' He asked for the ball back, but I wouldn't give it to him.''
Dean said Ensor then told him he was fired, an account Ensor doesn't dispute.
''Our employees are not allowed to get foul balls or home runs. End of story,'' Ensor said. ''He was given an employee's manual, just like everyone else, and understood the rules.''
Dean interpreted the rule differently.
''If I'd asked a Baron for an autograph, I'd have been automatically fired,'' Dean said. ''If I had earned two strikes (for other violations) already, I could have seen it coming. But I didn't have any strikes.''
Former Barons general manager and president Bill Hardekopf said rules barring employees from fraternizing with players and from retrieving baseballs were instituted in 1994, when Michael Jordan was a Baron. The rule was absolute, he said.
''Maybe I'm stirring up a hornet's nest,'' Dean said, ''but things aren't right over there.''
Dean, a retired industrial worker, said he is now supplementing his income by working as an usher at the Birmingham civic center.
------------------
"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run."
LETS GO METS!!!
HELP BE AN ADDICT AND CLICK ON AN AD!!