Minor League Manager Loses It, Replaces Umpire With Garbage Can

Tensions boiled out of control in the Bowling Green Hot Rods-Hickroy Crawdads game.

The Bowling Green Hot Rods and the Hickory Crawdads did battle last night in South Atlantic League action and, on the off chance that you missed all the High-A action, here's a sampling of the insane situation that developed. Bowling Green manager Rafael Valenzuela lasted until the top of the fourth until the home plate umpire broke him with questionable calls, leading to an all-time ejection meltdown.

Valanzuela, tossed for arguing balls and strikes, decided to get his money's worth by kicking a bunch of dirt on home plate. Then he took a page out of Carrot Top's book and used a prop to add to the humor, dragging a trash can out to home plate and setting it up in the umpire's spot.

Perhaps there's some symbolism there.

Bowling Green manager Rafael Valenzuela just got ejected from tonight’s game and his reaction is a mix of sandbox play and chaos. pic.twitter.com/qjph9zoyl1

— Geoff Pontes (@GeoffPontesBA) August 22, 2024

We've seen the garbage can move before and it always gets a nice reaction. But in the interest of getting better, perhaps the next manager who loses their mind should wheel a robot out there instead of a trash receptacle. Of course that would mean always having a robot on hand. Much to consider.