Pitching coach charged with DUI

The pitching coach of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays was arrested by St. Petersburg police late Sunday and charged with DUI, hit and run and resisting arrest without violence.

Police said an undercover officer saw James J. Hickey, 45, run his silver pickup into the back of a green pickup at First Avenue and 16th Street S, in front of Tropicana Field. The green pickup was driven by Devil Rays batboy Matthew Felix Carlson, and both men were stopped at a traffic light, said St. Petersburg Police Department spokesman George Kajtsa.

Carlson pulled his 1998 Chevrolet S10 pickup truck over to the side of the road, but Hickey took off toward Interstate 275. The officer, who was not in a marked car or uniform, followed him up Interstate 275 and communicated with other officers, who stopped him north of Gandy Boulevard.

"I made a horrible mistake," Hickey said in a phone interview. "It was a total lack of judgment. I apologize for that. It's inexcusable. I take total responsibility for my actions and I'll face up to it and make it right."

Hickey would not say where he was though he did say he wasn't with anyone from the team. He said he was not in a fight.

According to a St. Petersburg Police Department affidavit, Hickey pulled over for Police Officer Steven W. Sprout at Gandy Boulevard but then tried to put the car in gear and drive away. Hickey refused to get out of the car, Kajtsa said, and was brought out by officers. He then stumbled when he got out of the car and fell to the ground.

Police said Hickey tensed his muscles and put his hands under his chest after falling down on his face. He refused to remove his hands, but police eventually managed to get his arms out and handcuff him.

Hickey had a strong odor of alcohol, his speech was slurred and he swayed and appeared disoriented, the police report said. He refused to take a breathalyzer or blood test.

Hickey's booking photo shows a large scrape or bruise on his right cheek and a cut over his eye. He was booked at the Pinellas County Jail at 3:29 a.m. and was released on bond at 7:58 a.m.

The Rays finished their final game of the 2007 regular season Sunday afternoon in Toronto.

Devil Rays Executive Vice President Andrew Friedman said in a statement: "Jim was very apologetic and ashamed for the lack of discretion leading to this situation.  The Devil Rays organization is very disappointed in the poor personal behavior which precipitated this incident.  We expect Jim will face this incident honestly and appropriately.''

As for whether he cost himself his job, Hickey said:  "I certainly put my job in jeopardy. They have every right to go in any direction they want to."

Times staff writers Leonora LaPeter Anton, Marc Topkin, Abhi Raghunathan and Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

Comments

[Kurt]

I guess in the rush to get the Scoop....

The first article was full of errors as I see this one has a different location (1st ave SOUTH instead of NORTH), as well as other info.....

Just don't get like your Liberal Idol Dan Rather....You see what happened to him.

[barney frank]

Those BatBoys seem to always take it in he rear, or so I've heard.

[kronos]

Well here's what the Rays organization looks like:

1) An owner who doesn't understand the game and won't spend enough money to field a competitive team.

2) A team vice president who doesn't understand the game and is the owner's Wall Street lackey.

3) A manager who doesn't have the temperament, leadership qualities, and smarts to function even adequately and who hasn't earned the respect of the players.

4) A pitching coach who celebrated his tutelage of one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball history by getting drunk, hitting another vehicle, and running from police.

5) A playing facility that is universally acknowledged to be the worst in the majors in every way, shape, and form.

6) A hometown newspaper that lionizes the team's overpaid, non-producer who is white and vilifies black players in its sports pages on a regular basis.

7) An anemic fan base responsible for giving the Rays a 29th home attendance ranking out of 30 teams.

[Mark McGuire]

Who cares about baseball here in st. pete?

If your an old fart, it's too much of a hassle.

If your young, hell, we live near the beaches and all sorts of outdoor activities to spend time doing, not sitting on your asss watching a slow as hell geme.
People up north have nothing exciting to do but go to boring baseball games.

Tampa people are not going to drive all the way over here to sit on their asss for a boring baseball game.

Baseball is B-O-R-I-N-G.

That's why the league overlooked all the steroid BS because it artifically made the boring game appear exciting.

Unless your kids playing Little League.....BASEBALL IS B-O-R-I-N-G

Period.

[jake]

It must have been boring for hickey. usually people only get super drunk when they are bored.

[Joe]

I think Kronos hit the nail on the head. What other anvil will be dropping on Wile E. Coyote here in the next day or two?

These problems start at the very top. And its not a coincidence. Stuart Sternberg is an absentee owner who does not command the respect of his people, period. The Dukes deal was represented in that and we saw it on display again with the putrid and offensive comments in regards to "Tampa Bay" in his justification of the new proposed road uniforms. All in the name of "business".

Andrew Friedman and Matt Silverman are not equipped and perhaps still not ready for what they are in for. They are very simply, emissaries for Stuart Sternberg's personal will and vision. And that is beyond and more than Tampa Bay. And there are personal respect and leadership issues when players are insubordinate and the pitching coach (albeit a personal conduct issue) conducts himself in this kind of manner.

Why not call and put these people where they need to be?! Its all "business" and not about wins on the field. Regardless of what may be right or wrong or what I want, its all in the name of "business".

[lew]

so that's why our pitching sucks!!
screwball or highball that is the question!!

[wiggy]

This incident is fodder for another Jay Leno punchline and David Letterman Top Ten list. Kazmir thought the Rays were the league's laughingstock. He was only partially correct. They are the laughingstock of the country.

Fans, as always, are the big losers.

[jivin']

It took four reporters to assemble that short article? Do the writers get lifted after so many words? Who's counting? Maddon?

[Go Rays]

I can't wait to see what happens if the Rays ever start winning. Nobody ever would have thought USF would rank higher than UF, FSU, and Miami, but then they start winning and draw more than 20,000 over their previous high attendance. Right now, it's easy to kick a dead horse, but I have to ask "Mark McGuire" whether baseball was "B-O-R-I-N-G" in Chicago, Boston, or Philadelphia this weekend.

[Mark]

Go Rays:

Like I said.....Up North they don't do the outside things we do here.

B-O-R-I-N-G Baseball won't fly here in the land of the beaches and a plethora of outdoor fun.

Additionally, FOOTBALL IS NOT BORING.

There is ALL OUT action on every play.
That's what draws the crowds.

BaseBall and Soccer= B-O-R-I-N-G

And my statement about steroids and baseball is the cold, hard truth. A feeble attempt to make baseball ARTIFICIALLY Exciting.

What a bust.

[Beavis]

Hey Butthead, doesn't look like things are going to well in FL.

Your pal,

Beavis

[Mark]

Go Rays:

Why don't you take a minute out of your boring life and turn on espn and watch the NFL Monday nite game like the rest of America.

NOTHING BUT ACTION EVERY PLAY.......

AND A FULL STADIUM SCREAMING NON-STOP.

I REST MY CASE.

[Mark]

I guess Go Rays is so ENTHRALLED with Monday Nite Football non-stop action he had to leave the computer.

[Jim]

As opposed to Delmon Young's "blatant disrespect to baseball" of not running out a ground ball, this is blatant disrespect for the lives of the people who live in and walk or drive the streets of St Pete by driving drunk. Even after hitting another vehicle he continued to go and even got on the interstate for higher speed drunk driving.

If Jim Hickey is not immediately fired it will show which of these incidents the organization considers more serious. Too many people die every year from drunk driving for this man (who should be a role model for the younger players) to be employed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

[mark]

Thank you you pusssy moderator for removing posts.

Mark "st pete communist times" McGuire

Is that what they teach you at LibTurd journalism school?

How's your papers subscription status doing?

Certainly not on the upswing like Bush's Dow Jones!

[Steve]

Xavier Hernandez for pitching coach!!!

[mark]

Amazing......

They Re-appeared!

[Gary]

Exactly. Xavier Hernandez should've been the pitching coach all along. There is NO WAY the Rays can keep Hickey on after this blunder.The Rays need to fire him and set an example, that incidents such as this, will not be tolerated in this organization....Hickey's apology or not.

[Ron]

Everything I've read says that all of the young pitchers who have worked with Xavier Hernandez speak VERY highly of him.

[Jeff]

If there was a Rays home game tomorrow I bet the St. Pete Times wouldn't show up in the newspaper bins, just like the Dukes situation. That was a classic coverup of the news. How about another study for the Poynter Institute?

[Jeff]

If there was a Rays home game tomorrow I bet the St. Pete Times wouldn't show up in the newspaper bins, just like the Dukes situation. That was a classic coverup of the news. How about another study for the Poynter Institute?

[pops]

finally a devil ray whom can hit something.

[Jeff]

He was forcibly removed from the car by officers and then was allowed to "stumble" and fell on his own face ... right, right, right ... looks like the officers took batting practice on the midnight shift!

[RR]

"A horrible MISTAKE," eh?

Oh, I see....

So he didn't INTENTIONALLY pour all that alcohol down his throat, right? It just mistakenly ended up in a glass in his hand....just by chance....and then he just accidentally tilted his head back and drank that poison over and over and over.

Then he ACCIDENTALLY opened his car door, put in the key, and drove away.....and then he ACCIDENTALLY drove away from the scene of the only real accident involved -- the car wreck.

I'm so tired of people trying to make things sound better by saying, "It was a mistake."

Do we not understand the difference between a true mistake and a poor decision? One is conciously and intentionally carried out.

Now, which do you think our illustrious pitching coach was involved in??

[DR]

This guy can coach for Jon Gruden now.

If the Rays don't fire Hickey, Mothers Against Drunk Driving will really turn up the heat on this organization. In Sternberg's f****d up world, a guy in a leadership position who performed horribly takes precedence over a performing player who hasn't matured.