REMEMBER WHEN...
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl Chairman Faust still haunted by awful Little League call years ago
Ken Hoffman
Dec 5, 2017, 3:59 pm
Don Faust is still bitter over a Little League call. Courtesy photo
Don Faust is Chairman of the Board of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, which will pit Texas vs. Missouri on Dec. 27 in NRG Stadium. It's annually one of the most successful post-season football games, with sold-out crowds and $3 million payout to each team.
As boss of the bowl, Faust will present the trophy to the winning team. That's guaranteed face time on ESPN. Faust is also CEO of Faust Distributing, one of the biggest family-owned beer distributors in Texas.
Don Faust is a big deal. Yet he is haunted by a sports memory that keeps him tossing and turning at night and remains a baseball controversy that may never be solved.
Let's jump in Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine. The year was 2007. I was the manager of the Biscuits in West University Little League's "Minor A" Division for players age 9 and 10. The league assigned the Biscuits team to me because I may not have the healthiest eating habits. Everybody's a comedian around here, even Little League officials.
The mascot of the Montgomery Biscuits - yes, it's a real team, the Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays - is a hot buttered biscuit named Big Mo. Between innings, the mascot throws buttermilk biscuits into the stands.
Don Faust, sports kingpin and beer giant, was first base coach for the West U. Little League Biscuits that year. His son Jake was my first-round draft pick, starting pitcher and slick-fielding shortstop.
It was an early-season matchup between the Biscuits and the Ironbirds. Catcher Nicolas Baizan was batting with two runners on, and two outs. Nicolas's father Jordi was our third-base coach. Jordi is a singer and songwriter. His latest CD is titled Like the First Time.
Nicolas checked his swing and hit a squibber, a foul ball slowly dribbling toward our first-base dugout. Faust reached down and picked up the ball.
The home plate umpire yelled "coach's interference" and called Nicolas out, killing the Biscuits rally. Needless to say, Faust protested and I erupted from the dugout, questioning the umpire's understanding of baseball rules and principles of science.
I explained to him, a checked swing from a righty hitter imparts spin that propels the ball to the right. Nicolas' foul ball couldn't possibly have bounced back into fair territory. The Earth would have to fall off its axis for that to happen. Haven't you been to Astros games? The first base coach always picks up foul balls and throws them into the crowd. The fans love it.
The umpire wouldn't budge, and insisted that Faust interfered with a live ball - a ball that would have defied science and challenged the Bernoulli Principle - which explains why flushed toilet water spins counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in Australia. Nicolas was out. I could have shown him a frame-by-frame Zapruder film of the play and it wouldn't have mattered.
Faust was besides himself. He still insists the ball was headed to our dugout and the umpire made a historic bad call. .
You'd think that Faust would have more on his mind these days, what with the Texas Bowl only weeks away. .
"Of course I remember that! Stupid call," Faust said this week.
"I was in the first base coaching box and the foul ball rolled between me and the dugout. I stopped it with my outstretched left hand. It would have been geometrically impossible for that ball to magically become fair. It happens in Major League Baseball every game. The umpire was a dummy."
Then ... "I miss those days." Welcome to the world of Little League dads.
Meanwhile his son Jake is now a student at the University of Texas and Nicolas is a pro soccer player, a bit of a teen sensation, in Spain. They've clearly moved on.
Don Faust and I ... still tormented by an umpire's call 10 years ago in Little League. There's an excellent chance that we need professional help.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
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