Milk, It Does a Batboy Bad

Earlier this week Florida Marlins' pitcher Brad Penny bet a team batboy that the kid couldn't drink a gallon of milk in an hour -- and keep it down. Other teammates threw in some cash on the bet, too, and the pot soon soared to $1,000. The kid took the dare, finished the gallon in the required time, and promptly puked. Penny's take on the whole thing: "I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

I totally agree. The Marlins, however, aren't amused. For some reason they're not sharing, the team has now announced that it has suspended the batboy for six games. Penny is outraged.

"It's ridiculous that they worry about stuff like that. It shows (the Marlins organization) doesn't know anything about the game. That kind of stuff goes on everywhere. It didn't affect the way he worked, the way he did his job."

Next up, no doubt, is a stronger "milk testing" policy for batboys spurred by congressional hearings.

Whole story here from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Corrections: Reader Russ correctly points out that Penny is with the Dodgers. Damn him (Penny, not Russ): he was with the Marlins when I lived in Miami. My bad. Co-blogger Minerva correctly points out that the story I linked to indicates the kid didn't puke. My bad again. MSNBC and the San Jose Mercury News say he did. I'm not sure which re-telling of events is true but I have to say that I like the puke version much better.