The Tribe’s Joe Smith was involved in an altercation with bar staff at the Roundhouse Bar in Put-In-Bay, Ohio early Sunday morning.  Smith tried to get into the bar but was stopped by the doormen who questioned the 28-year-old Smith’s age.  Without identification on him, Smith tried the old “I’m a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians” routine, which might have worked for Bob Feller or even Joe Mesa, but not for a middling reliever on the current Indians roster.

Words were exchanged (someone in Smith’s party claim the bouncers became “rude and disrespectful”), cops were dispatched, and Smith and his companion ended up in handcuffs.  Fortunately for Smith and his friend, no charges or citations were issued.

From NewsNet5.com…

It was at this point in Smith’s explanation of events to police that the officer remarked in the report that “Mr. Smith became upset with me because I did already not know who he was.”

The report then said that the pitcher’s girlfriend leaned forward and stated, “He’s a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians!”

Smith told officers that a bar security member called him a name before removing him from the property, and then someone else tried to fight with Smith.

Officers then told Smith and his friend — both of whom had been placed in handcuffs — that no charges or citations would be issued.

That friend of Smith’s who tried helping his cause by letting everyone know that yes, he was THAT Joe Smith who pitches for the Cleveland Indians was his girlfriend, former Miss Teen USA and current sports reporter for FOX’s Cleveland affiliate Allie LaForce.  So while he may not be a recognizable face in and around the Cleveland area, and his sense of entitlement doens’t always get fulfilled from his being a pro athlete, at least he can take solace in knowing that he’s going out with someone who looks like this while most of us aren’t…

If Joe Smith wants to stay out the next time he frequents a drinking establishment, he should either remember his identification, or just let his attractive and semi-famous girlfriend do all the talking.  Trust me, both options will work seamlessly.

Vedder ended up on stage after one of the karaoke participants tried belting out Pearl Jam’s classic Alive.  The native Chicagoan joined the karaoke singer onstage and turned the song into a duet.  According to the Chicago Tribune (via Puck Daddy), Vedder belted out five tunes after commandeering the karaoke mic, including The Who’s Baba O’Riley and the aforementioned The Weight.  At some point he was joined onstage by Chelios and Wood, although the latter was merely a spectator.

Here’s video of the dynamic duo rocking karaoke night…

Seeing these three guys killing karoake night at a local bar, drinks in hand until the wee hours of the morning, is infinitely better than the usual “guess which table Patrick Kane is passed out under” celeb sighting most Chicago area bars can offer.

[video via eBaum's World]

But it seems that the ballboys in Tampa Bay are cut from a different cloth, because not only does he take the good-natured abuse from the Braves bullpen like a champ, he wins the day by getting the last laugh on Hernandez (Ed. note:  Anyone else surprised that Livan is just 38-years-old?  I swore he broke into the majors in 1983).

Video follows the jump…

Well, thanks to our intrepid Rays ballboy we now know how to get back at a big league pitcher who mocks people and throws sunflowers seeds at them after they misplay a foul ball grounder.

You just leave them hanging.

[MLB via Deadspin]

The fact that they’re outfitted in Cincy gear while catching a foul ball hit by the Reds’ best player only adds to their awesome moment, as does the celebration afterwards.

And while it is a team effort to snag that ball, it’s clearly the kid who should get the lion’s share of the credit.  Sure his dad had to do the muscle work and hold his son up long enough to make the catch, but the young lad has to come up with the grab while being hoisted in the air or it’s all for naught.  Making a catch without having your footing on solid ground is not as easy as it looks.

Video follows the jump…

Love how dad wants to keep the party going after junior makes the catch, only to have the kid push him away as if to say “what’s the big deal, Dad…I had it all the way.”

Swag?  This kid’s got it.

Don’t show this to any Pirates fans, because they’ll scream that bobblehead Sid Bream should have been called out too.

Bobbleheads have evolved from a generic, unnamed player with a goofy grin on it’s face sporting a ball team’s uniform to what you see above—an exact replica of Sid Bream’s famous slide to end Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS that propelled the Atlanta Braves to the World Series (where they eventually lost to the Toronto Blue Jays), complete with Pittsburgh catcher Mike LaValliere and umpire Randy Marsh calling Bream safe, again, much to the dismay of Pirates fans old enough to remember a time when the Bucs were perennial World Series contenders.

The first 20,000 fans through the gate for the Braves game against those same Blue Jays on June 9 will receive this bobblehead masterpiece, and if you’re one of the lucky people in this world that gets their grubby mitts on this gorgeous piece of bobbleheaded goodness, display it with pride, preferably on your mantelpiece (if you have one) in place of your wedding photo, loved one’s ashes, or other treasured heirloom.

[@Braves via Big League Stew]

See, truth in reporting does exist…except this may be a little more truth than a newspaper can handle.

This was a season-ending write up for Rayne High’s (Louisiana) girls softball team that showed up in the Rayne Independent (maybe), and even without the final paragraph regarding the reason behind the lack of pitcher Hailey Habetz’s stats this still would be a tremendous write-up.  The seemingly made-up name of Cecily Schexnyder isn’t quite as made up as you think, and the sentence fragment “Outfielder Sidney Fontenot” is like an escalator that goes nowhere.

What this all adds up to is dummy text designed to fill out a column until the actual copy is ready to be put into print turning into a mess for the Independent, should they be the newspaper in question.  Heads will roll for this because whoever forgot to change out the spicy dummy text suffers from the same amount of “bullsh*t and laziness” as the Rayne High girls softball coach supposedly does.

[H/T to SportsGrid]

Well something is better than nothing, I guess.

From Tuesday’s Angels-A’s game comes this simplistic, yet hilarious, screenshot, whereby the Angels broadcast team offers some unique perspective to L.A.’s “Key to the Game,” which in this case is nothing more than something (Ed. note: may or may have not been written by Tim McCarver).

Hey, they ended up winning 4-0, so who are we to argue with success.

[Reddit]

Unfortunately it’s not the entire home run derby that will take place on the flight deck of the Yorktown on June 18th, but only the opening round, with the final round taking place before the league’s All-Star game the following day at Riley Park.  Still, I doubt a better, more patriotic venue the brain trust of the Class A South Atlantic League could not have come up with.

From The Post and Courier…

The home run derby will take place June 18 at 11 a.m. with the championship round being staged the following day beginning at 5:15 p.m. at Riley Park, where the All-Star Game will be played at 7 p.m.

The 10 home run derby competitors — five from the Northern Division and five from the Southern Division — will take their 10 swings on the flight deck. A total of four players will make the final round.

The RiverDogs have hired kayakers and personnel on jet skis to retrieve the balls hit into Charleston Harbor. The U.S. Coast Guard will assess and note the longest homers to determine the finalists and will radio the results to officials stationed on the Yorktown.

This isn’t the first time a sporting event has taken place on the deck of a Naval aircraft carrier, and here’s hoping it won’t be the last.

And just such a play happened earlier this month during a high school game between the Lick-Wilmerding Tigers and the University Red Devils.  It wasn’t a straight steal of home but more of a delayed steal after a pitch in the dirt, and the runner, Tigers 2nd baseman Drew Forrest, exhibited some questionable, albeit crafty baserunning to plate the winning run in the bottom of the 8th, but the ump’s call stood and the wild play will live on for eternity.

Enjoy it now because it may be decades before you see another walk-off steal of home, if ever…

Forrest’s sliding technique may lack for style points, but despite the protestations of the University players, it got the job done.

[H/T to TPS]

What I want to know is, how’d they score such killer seats?

Spotted at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati during last week’s Reds/Nationals series were two heavyweights from the animal kingdom, a horse and a giraffe, casually chatting it up behind home plate.  This would be kind of cool if it weren’t so terrifying.

Animals taking in baseball games like regular people—isn’t this how George Orwell’s Animal Farm began?  If so the human race is doomed to sitting in inferior seats at sporting events.

[Buzzfeed]