Randall Carlito Simon (born May 25, 1975) is a Curaçaoan former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He has played all or parts of eight seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB), LVBP and one in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) between 1997 and 2006. Simon's debut season came with the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

in 1997, for whom he played until 1999. He also played for the Detroit Tigers (2001–2002), Pittsburgh Pirates (2003, 2004), Chicago Cubs (2003),

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

(2004), the NPB's Orix Buffaloes (2005), Texas Rangers (2006) Philadelphia Phillies (2006–2007). Upon his release from the Phillies in spring training, Simon played in the Mexican League, for the Rojos del Águila de Veracruz and Potros de Tijuana. He also played in the Northern League for the

Gary SouthShore RailCats The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a professional baseball team based in Gary, Indiana, in the United States. The RailCats are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. The Rai ...

in 2010 and Rockford RiverHawks in 2011. He is currently the Bravos de León hitting coach.

Life and baseball career

Simon was born in

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was the capital of the Netherlands Antilles pr ...

, Curaçao. Before signing with the Pirates, Simon signed with the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

in the 2000 season, but did not play in the majors for either franchise. In 2003, Simon was traded by Pittsburgh to the Chicago Cubs, where he had a productive postseason, helping the Cubs to the

2003 National League Championship Series The 2003 National League Championship Series (NLCS) was a Major League Baseball playoff series played from October 7 to 15 to determine the champion of the National League, between the Central Division champion Chicago Cubs and the wild-card qua ...

. After the season, Simon was released by Chicago. On February 19, 2004, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed Simon as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

to secure the team at first base for the upcoming season. After several months into his second tenure with the Pirates, he was released on August 18, 2004. Simon said, "I'm a fighter," Simon said. "I promise you're going to see me again. You don't have to worry about that." One day after his release from the Pirates, he was acquired by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After less than a month with Tampa Bay he was released and signed with the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...

. Randall represented his country in the 2006

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Lea ...

for Netherlands along with his fellow country man and old teammate

Andruw Jones Andruw Rudolf Jones (; born April 23, 1977) is a Curaçaoan former baseball outfielder and designated hitter who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably for the Atlanta Braves. Jones also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers ...

who he played with the Atlanta Braves. In 2008, Simon played for the independent

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

of the Atlantic League. In 2009, Simon played in the

on the team representing the Netherlands. The

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks are a professional minor-league baseball team based in Fargo, North Dakota, in the United States. The RedHawks are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major Leagu ...

of the Northern League signed Simon to a contract for the 2009 season. Simon played for the Truenos de Tijuana of the Northern Mexican League (Liga Norte de Mexico) in the 2011 season, which ended on July 17, 2011.

Sausage race incident

On July 9, 2003, while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, during the Milwaukee Brewers' " Sausage Race," in which four contestants wearing sausage costumes have a footrace on the field, Simon leaned over the dugout railing and hit college student Mandy Block (in the Italian sausage costume) with a bat, causing her to fall into the path of another racer. His bat struck only the top padded part of the costume, well above her head position, causing her to lose her balance. Block suffered only a scraped knee. Simon was questioned by police and later fined $432.10 for disorderly conduct. MLB suspended him for 3 games and fined him $2,000. He issued an apology to Block and sent her the bat, autographed, from the incident. When Simon returned to Miller Park later that year as a member of the Chicago Cubs, he purchased Italian sausages for an entire section, and during the race, his teammates playfully held him back until all the sausages passed the dugout, while manager

Dusty Baker Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker Jr. (born June 15, 1949) is an American baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Houston Astros in Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in the MLB for 19 seasons, most notably with the Lo ...

guarded the bat rack. Mandy Block, who Simon knocked down and by then known by her

married name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also u ...

Mandy Wagner, stated in a 2021 interview that she found the incident "hilarious" and avoided most publicity related to it, feeling uncomfortable with the media narrative that she considered to be criminalizing Simon. Block received a complimentary trip for two persons to Curaçao, Simon's home island, from the Curaçao Tourism Board; she traveled there with her mother in March 2004.

References

Citations

* 1. ESP
"Sausagegate"
* 2. ESPN: Your Tur
"Sports Arrests"

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Randall 1975 births Living people Águilas Cibaeñas players Algodoneros de San Luis players Arizona League Rangers players Atlanta Braves players Calgary Cannons players Caribes de Anzoátegui players Caribes de Oriente players Chicago Cubs players Columbus Clippers players Curaçao expatriate baseball players in Canada Curaçao expatriate baseball players in Japan Curaçao expatriate baseball players in Mexico Curaçao expatriate baseball players in the United States Danville Braves players Detroit Tigers players Durham Bulls players Dutch people of Curaçao descent Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks players Gary SouthShore RailCats players Greenville Braves players Leones del Caracas players Curaçao expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Leones del Escogido players Macon Braves players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball players from Curaçao Mexican League baseball first basemen Nashville Sounds players Newark Bears players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Oklahoma RedHawks players Orix Buffaloes players People from Willemstad Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates players Potros de Tijuana players Richmond Braves players Rockford RiverHawks players Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Tiburones de La Guaira players Tigres del Licey players Curaçao expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Toledo Mud Hens players Tomateros de Culiacán players Major League Baseball controversies Violence in sports 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players