Phillip Wellman

Phillip Wellman is the American manager of the Mississippi Braves of the Southern League. Wellman entered professional baseball as a player in by|1984 and began coaching in by|1988. Wellman attended Sam Houston State University and Southwestern University.

On June 1, by|2007, Wellman gained international attention when he went on a tirade against the umpires during a game against the Chattanooga Lookouts at AT&T Field. He protested the umpire throwing his pitcher out of the game for using a foreign substancecite news|title=Major league Braves suspend Wellman three games|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/news/story?id=2893060|date=2007-06-04|publisher=ESPN.com] by covering home plate with dirt, then tracing in the dirt a new, significantly larger home plate. He then went on to uproot bases and throw them, crawl in a prone position across the infield like a soldier, and pretend to bite and hurl the rosin bag at an umpire as if it were a hand grenade. He concluded his tirade by pretending to eject the umpires themselves with a fist-pump and then blowing a farewell kiss to the crowd while taking a bow. The episode was broadcast on sports shows across the United States and gained him wide-spread fame on the Internet.Wellman was given a three game suspension effective June 4, 2007. He was not the first one to do such protest, his moves might be influenced by former Buffalo Bisons's manager Marty Brown, which he uprooted and thrown a base, and cover the plate with dirt respectively in two professional games in Japan in 2006.cite news|title=U.S. Manager Brown at Home in Hiroshima|url=http://www.baynews9.com/content/40/2006/5/24/160518.html|date=2007-05-24|publisher=baynews9.com]

The Braves reappointed Wellman manager of the Mississippi Braves on December 7, 2007.

Notes

ee also

*Bobby Cox
*Joe Mikulik
*Lou Pinella

External links

* [http://www.mississippibraves.com/mbraves/coaches/index.html?staff_id=21 Official bio from Mississippi Braves website]
*YouTube|Ggy6WGUFaYs|Wellman's tirade