You may recall how, last fall, former Giants slugger Kevin Mitchell repeatedly punched a guy on a golf course after the man “had spoken disparagingly about him earlier.” Apparently that’s frowned upon in California, and Mitchell pleaded no contest to the charges in March. Yesterday he was sentenced to three months probation and anger management classes.
The best part of this report, though, is that it contains some stuff from a preliminary hearing we missed from a few months ago:Leonard Lerma said Mitchell started throwing punches on the 13th hole.
“I want to show you who I am, motherf--ker,” Mitchell said, according to Lerma’s testimony in a preliminary hearing. “I’m an old school gangster.”
Perhaps the craziest thing about this is that the ire between the two had started a week earlier when the victim of the assault -- who had taken golf lessons along with Mitchell one morning -- was bad mouthing the instructor later, saying that the instructor ruined his game, only to have Mitchell defend the instructor’s honor. Not the kind of thing you expect from “old school gangsters,” but not without honor either.
And in Mitchell’s defense, golfers who complain about someone else ruining their game are insufferable jerks who probably could use their ears being boxed by former NL MVPs. It’s the entire reason I’ve kept Andre Dawson on my personal payroll since 1987. You know, just in case.
