The Amarillo Sod Poodles Name Infamous Grenade Launcher as Their Manager
The Amarillo Sod Poodles have their first manager.
Phillip Wellman is not new to the Padres organization, though he has been the AA manager for the past four seasons and is simply making the move to Amarillo. He's had a considerable amount of success with one of the best farm systems in baseball with the official team press release, saying: "The 2017 Texas League Manager of the Year piloted the 2018 Missions to a 71-67 record (.514), clinching their second consecutive playoff bout and leading the squad to their first Championship series appearance since taking the league title in 2013."
Wellman is an accomplished manager and teacher, so the City of Amarillo should be happy to have him in their town. He sure is happy to be in Amarillo.
"I am very excited to head to Amarillo," said Wellman in the team's release. "It's not every day you get to be the first to manage and play in a brand-new stadium in a community filled with so much excitement and anticipation, and the fact that it's in my home state of Texas makes it that much more special."
But it's not always the good things, or even great things, you do that people remember you for. And lucky for us, Phillip Wellman has one of the best coaching meltdowns of all-time on his resume.
I was reminded of the meltdown by Twitter user and Sod Poodles fanatic John Moore:
You can watch the full meltdown in the video at the top of the post. It's one of the best I've ever seen. There's hat throwing, base stealing, screaming and the best moment comes at about 1:50 in the video when Wellman pretends the rosen bag is a grenade and lobs it at the umpire that tossed him. Then, he tosses the umpire.
Truly a fantastic scene. Top notch.