Former Edmonton Capitals manager Brent Bowers apologized Tuesday for a homophobic tirade against openly gay Golden Baseball League umpire Billy Van Raaphorst, arguing it was a case of sticking up for his team that got out of hand.
Bowers was suspended Saturday, and later resigned, after an altercation in the first game of a doubleheader on July 31 in which, according to the official report, he called Van Raaphorst “a (expletive) faggot,” and threatened him, saying, “I ought to kick your ass, you faggot.”
“I was sticking up for my team and I was sticking up for myself — not justifying what I said was right,” Bowers said by phone Tuesday before the Capitals played their first home game at Telus Field since the incident. “It was totally wrong, but it just was spur of the moment, and I said some bad things to him, and for that I apologize.”
According to Bowers, the incident was sparked after Van Raaphorst ejected him in the first inning of games on both July 30 and July 31. Van Raaphorst also threw out Capitals players Ryan Stevenson and Nick Valdez in the fifth inning of the July 30 game, and Lou Pote was kicked out in the first inning the next day.
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Including Bowers, six Capitals were ejected during the three-game series.
“There were a couple instances in two games where I got kicked out in the first inning from that umpire, OK?” Bowers said. “And some of my players also got kicked out from that same umpire. I just thought, as manager, I needed to go out there and just ask why is this happening to me and us, and it just came to a point then where I just started saying bad things to him, and for that I’m sorry.”
“But it was more than me just (arguing) a call,” Bowers said. “I got kicked out of a game not once, but twice in the first inning. I’ve never had that happen to me in my life.”
Bowers has developed a reputation for his histrionics when being ejected — earlier this season, he took off his cleat and held it up to his nose to show an umpire that his calls stank, and last season, he dumped a bag of balls on home plate and mimed making diving catches in centre field.
However, Bowers noted that those antics are for the benefit of the spectators and not motivated by anger.
“When I go out there and get kicked out and stuff in Edmonton, it’s for show,” he said. “It’s for the fans. It’s minor league baseball. I want people to have fun at the ballpark and see funny things.
“I would never, ever run out on the field to argue with an umpire over a call and call an umpire names.”
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