Minor-League Baseball Manager Admits Drug Use, Fired From Team |
PUBLIC FIGURES
|
Butch Hobson, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies' top farm team, the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Red Barons, was fired on August 8 just days after he admitted using cocaine. "The Phillies have released Butch Hobson from his contract and will not rehire him," said general manager Lee Thomas (Associated Press, "Minor-league manager admitted using drug," San Francisco Chronicle, August 9, 1996, p. B1).
Hobson, a former baseball star and manager of the Boston Red Sox, received 2.6 grams of cocaine in an overnight package on May 4 in a Rhode Island hotel room. He admitted in a written confession that he sent his friend, Jerry Poe, $200 in cash earlier in the year for cocaine. Hobson said, "I told him I wanted the cocaine or the money sent to me." Hobson's Attorney, Stephen Famigliette, said the written confession omitted that Hobson had called Poe back telling him he did not want the cocaine, but wanted the money back. For more information on Hobson's arrest, see article in the Summer 1996 issue of NewsBriefs.