Joe Mikulik

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Joseph "Joe" Mikulik, born October 30, 1963 in Weimar, Texas^[1], is a former minor league baseball player and the current manager of the Asheville Tourists class A minor league baseball team. The 5' 11" right-handed outfielder never rose above AAA baseball, but was a key player in the Tucson Toros' first Pacific Coast League championship in 1991. During 2007, his eighth season with the Tourists, Mikulik, who already held the team record for most games managed, became the team's all-time leader in managerial wins.^[2]

1 Player history
2 Coaching history
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Player history

Mikulik attended San Jacinto Junior College before being picked up the Houston Astros in the ninth round of the 1984 amateur draft. Over the next ten years he played for the Auburn Astros, the Asheville Tourists, the Columbus Astros and the Jackson Generals, all in the Astros' minor league system, supplemented with a stint in the Mexican League. From 1988 to 1992 he spent parts of each season with the AAA Tucson Toros, finally spending the entire season there in 1993.

On September 13, 1991, the recently-promoted Mikulik, wearing wristbands emblazoned with the words "NEVER SURRENDER", drove in the winning run by Trenidad Hubbard during the bottom of the ninth inning in the final game of the league championship series between Tucson and the Calgary Cannons. "It was a great thrill," he told a reporter ten years later. "I was in the right place at the right time." Team General Manager Mike Feder later remembered the game as "one of the best moments in Tucson baseball history."^[3]

He was again with the Toros when they won their second and final championship under that name in 1993. He finished his career as a player in Tucson in 1994, aside from one more stint in the Mexican League.

[edit] Coaching history

In 1995, Mikulik coached the Canton-Akron Indians, and rose to the position of manager with the Burlington Indians in August 1997. He became manager of his old team, the Asheville Tourists, in 2000. Among his motivational tools for the latter team was a video called Running With the Toros, about the Toros' first championship season.^[3]

Mikulik is well known for embarking on a lengthy tirade after being ejected from a game against the Lexington Legends on June 25, 2006. In the bottom of the 5^th inning, Mikulik got into an argument over a Legends player, third baseman Koby Clemens, called safe after a close call at second base. Having had enough, the umpire proceeded to eject Mikulik from the game. Mikulik then went on an extended tirade, pulling up the second base and throwing it into the field, throwing bats from the dugout on to the field, then finally pouring water on home plate before eventually leaving for the clubhouse, where he continued his tantrum unseen, toppling water coolers and a chair in front of the umpire's locker room.^[4] The Legends went on to win the game. Afterward, Mikulik made several unapologetic comments, including the claim that "I could get two mannequins at Sears and umpire better than what I saw this whole series."^[4]. As a result of his actions, Mikulik was given a seven-day suspension and $1,000 fine; Mikulik's antics were shown on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, SportsCenter, and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.