TOMBALL, Texas – A competitive league baseball coach has been accused of telling a 14-year-old pitcher to intentionally hit an umpire with a baseball.
The conversation was caught on video in the dugout during a Memorial Day tournament.
In the 10 second clip, you can hear the coach Jeremy Knox, telling a player, “You hit the (expletive) umpire right here (pointing to forehead) in the (expletive) mask. Right here. Hit him right here. Just throw it right here. If he gets outta the way, fine. If he doesn’t, (expletive) him."
Knox was in his first season of coaching with the Evoshield Canes Texas team. The team’s owner told KHOU 11 News, after seeing the video Knox was immediately fired.
“This is something where the minute we heard it, we had to get rid of the coach.” said the team's owner, Jeremy Eisenhower.
He added the video was a poor example of the morals of baseball. “We teach our kids, we want them to be men. The problems through adversity, we have to be men. Whether you agree with something or not, you don’t handle things incorrectly.” he said.
Two assistant coaches and two players were ejected following the pitch.
On Wednesday, the owner of the Premier Baseball park said Knox wasn’t even supposed to be on the property, let alone in a dugout, because he'd been banned.
The park has since banned all Evoshield Canes Texas teams.
The opposing coach said someone sent him the video anonymously. He posted it on Facebook, setting off a firestorm of comments.
"Wow. If my kid was on his team, I would find another team asap. What a classless coach with no respect," said one dad.
"Unbelievable... At any level. This guy should never be allowed to coach again. You're [SIC] job, as a coach of 14 year olds, is to teach & to be a role model & hopefully instill a love for the game," said another.
We were unable to reach Knox for comment.