Sometime in the next four days, Joe Mikulik, the Manager of the Asheville Tourists, is almost guaranteed to pull some stunt that will warrant coverage by ESPN. You can catch the stunt when the Tourists play the Grasshoppers today through Thursday (5/21/07 – 5/24/07). Asheville is in a different division than Greensboro, so this is their only scheduled Greensboro appearance.
Joe Mikulik has been the Manager for the Tourist for eight years and has been known to push the limits of Umpire – Manager relationships when he needs to spark his team. I recall a few years back when he questioned the plate umpire’s call of the strike zone. It was a very visual experience as Mikulik used a bat to measure the strike zone height. Even from the Grand Stand, we could see the “discussion”. Last year, at another city, he pulled a stunt that involved him sliding into second base – that made the ESPN highlights.
Who knows what he might or might not do? It’s an opportunity not to be missed. Hopefully, we’ll see some classic Joe Mikulik this week. If not, there’s still some good baseball.