Rockies Coach Posts Video Sitting in Pilot's Seat on Team Plane, Triggering FAA Investigation
The Free Friday newsletter.
Hi friends-
I never write about the Colorado Rockies—a fake franchise playing altitude-induced bizarro baseball that should probably be moved to Montreal— because they never do anything newsworthy.
Until this week!
First, the club used its ace (don’t ever do this!) Kyle Freeland as a pinch-runner in a one-run game in the ninth inning. He tried to score the tying run by scampering home from third on wild pitch but was injured in a (clean) home plate collision that left him on the ground writhing in pain (see the picture above).
The Rockies lost (of course they did), and after the game manager Bud Black told reporters that Freeland was fine.
Today, Freeland was placed on the 15-day injured list with an elbow strain. Freeland told Luke Zahlmann of the Denver Gazette that his injury had nothing to do with the play at the plate, and that he’s annoyed that people are conflating the two.
But after reviewing the tape, it’s pretty easy to see why people were concerned that Freeland exploded his elbow on that play after he got inadvertently body slammed. I know Black and the Rockies were trying to snatch a rare W, but pinch-running your best SP in anything other than an elimination game is unhinged behavior, and now the club may spiral down even further from its 4-15 record.
The Freeland news might actually be a PR blessing for the team, as it distracts from the insane story that Alison Sider of the Wall Street Journal broke yesterday about a Rockies coach riding in the pilot seat on a team flight and then uploading video of the event to social media, which has now triggered an FAA investigation:
The Federal Aviation Administration and United Airlines are investigating how a person traveling with a Major League Baseball team was seen sitting in the captain’s chair of the cockpit during the team’s flight from Denver to Toronto.
The incident occurred during a charter flight operated by United on April 10th for the Colorado Rockies, people familiar with the matter said. A Rockies representative didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for the FAA said the agency is investigating the event. Federal regulations restrict who can access the flight deck, rules that were tightened after September 11, 2001.
In a video posted to social media and later removed, a man appears sitting at the controls of a Boeing 757 mimicking pushing the planes yoke and giving the thumbs up.
The video—which people familiar with the matter said showed the incident—was also posted to YouTube earlier this week.
It isn’t clear how long the man was sitting up front. “We’re deeply disturbed by what we see in that video which appears to show an unauthorized person in the flight deck at cruise altitude while the autopilot was engaged,” United Airlines said. “As a clear violation of our safety and operational policies, we reported the incident to the FAA and have withheld the pilots from service while we conduct an investigation.”
The Athletic reported that the person who rode in the pilot’s seat was the team’s hitting coach and MLB lifer, Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens:
The since-deleted video, posted to Instagram by [Meulens], was captioned, “Had some fun in the cockpit on our flight from Denver to Toronto. Thanks to the captain and the first officer of our United charter that allowed me this great experience.”
There’s a lot to unpack here. First, teams often become comfortable with charter pilots and flight attendants, so there’s a level of trust there that doesn’t exist on a normal flight. On the other hand, just last month, a Boeing flight heading from Sydney to Auckland went into a nosedive and injured 50 passengers when a flight attendant accidentally hit a switch on the pilot’s seat while serving food, which pushed the pilot into the controls and caused the plane’s nose to pitch down.
I doubt Meulens or the pilots will face any significant punishment (it seems like he had a wonderful time and no one was ever remotely in danger).
Still, while it’s true the Rockies have been on autopilot since the 2007 season, it would be great if they left the actual flying of the team plane up to the professionals.
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AROUND THE LEAGUE
There’s some good news about Spencer Strider’s elbow: He didn’t tear his UCL at all. He had the brace surgery because a bone fragment broke loose, and doctors determined he did not need Tommy John. (Grant McCauley/929 The Game)
MLB’s top pitching prospect, Paul Skenes, has struck out 27 batters in 12 scoreless innings so far in Triple-A. He’s frustrated that the Pirates are limiting his workload, and so am I. (Sam Dykstra/MLB.com)
White Sox GM Chris Getz said it’s going to take years for the franchise to build a good team. When Jerry Reinsdorf hired Getz eight months ago, he said Getz could do it faster than anyone else could. (Russell Dorsey/Yahoo.com)
A nine-year-old boy battling leukemia caught Andrew McCutchen’s 300th home run and got to meet Cutch after. (Aidan Kasner/The Pitt News)
There have been 183 quality starts this year, 10 each against the Cardinals and Tigers, one against the Dodgers.
Ron Washington leaves personalized notes at each of his players’ locker before each series. (Bally Sports).
Tanner Houck of the Red Sox pitched a shutout on Thursday that took just 1 hour and 49 minutes.
The Dodgers vs. Padres Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN scored nearly 2 million viewers. It was the most-watched non-Red Sox vs. Yankees broadcast on the network in almost six years. (Andrew Marchand/ The Athletic)
Jordan Montgomery will make his season debut Friday for the Diamondbacks. He will be facing… Blake Snell. (Nick Piecoro/ The Arizona Republic)
Justin Verlander will also pitch for the first time this season on Friday. The Astros are 6-14 and need him badly. (Brian McTaggert/ MLB.com)
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I thought it generally sucked. I didn’t think it was a specific suck, I thought it was like an all-encompassing type of suck.”
—The Rays’ Pete Fairbanks after blowing a save on Wednesday.
That’s all for this week. I’ll see paid subscribers tomorrow on Zoom to talk baseball for an hour at noon PT. <3
"The Dodgers vs. Padres Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN scored nearly 2 million viewers. It was the most-watched non-Red Sox vs. Yankees broadcast on the network in almost six years."
No, it was the FIRST non-Red Sox vs. Yankees broadcast on the network in almost six years.
OK, I know, but exaggerating for effect has its virtues.
I don’t even see what you’d punish Meulens for. But I expect the pilots will be fired or at least lose the privilege of flying charter flights. I’ll confer with my pilot friend on Monday night.