Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Player Cut For Allegedly Helping Opponents

A player for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels has been cut for allegedly helping opponents! He's been accused of tipping pitches to help the other team know what's coming!

Baseball is a guessing game. If you think a fast ball is coming and you're given a curve, it can throw off your timing. It's part of what makes the sport so difficult. However, if you know what pitch is coming you're much more likely to get a hit. Now, a player for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels has been cut after it's believed he told the other team what pitches were coming!

Cheating is nothing new in baseball. It's been happening since the game has been around. There was the famous Black Sox fixing scandal, steroids, and more recently the Houston Astros cheating scandal. In that one, the team was accused of using cameras to know what pitches were about to be thrown to help their batters. It became a very messy ordeal.

What you never expect is your own catcher to be helping the other team while they're at bat. Unfortunately, it sounds like that's what Derek Bender was doing. According to ESPN, Bender told opposing hitters the types of pitches that were coming during a game that led to his team being eliminated from playoff contention! How mad would you be if you're his teammate and you actually care and are trying to make it to the Big Leagues? Making the playoffs would be a great time to showcase your skills! It would be quite upsetting if you didn't make it there because your teammate was helping the other team. That's some serious sabotage!

Bender was a 6th round draft pick in July out of Coastal Carolina. He was playing for the Minnesota Twins' Single-A affiliate in Fort Myers when he was busted. According to ESPN, in the 2nd game of a doubleheader Bender told multiple players for the Lakeland Flying Tigers, a farm team for the Detroit Tigers, what pitches were being thrown by Ross Dunn. Lakeland went on to win the game 6-0 to clinch the Florida State League West division thus eliminating Fort Myers from playoff contention. To make things even worse, the Mighty Mussels had a 6-game lead in the division only 3 weeks prior! Could Bender have been doing this for longer than suspected?

It was Lakeland's coaches who reportedly notified the Fort Myers coaches about the tipping. To add to it, Bender had allegedly told teammates he wanted to season to be over, per ESPN. That's not going to help his case. It's like that episode of South Park where Stan and the kids want the season to be over, but so do their opponents and it becomes a battle of who is worse. He has since been cut but he spent the final 2 games of the season in the bullpen and not in the dugout like he typically would, per ESPN.

Baseball is back and it's a great time to watch some baseball movies! After not-so-patiently waiting Opening Day 2024 is now in the books. That means summer is just around the corner!

To celebrate the return of Major League Baseball, here are 5 of the greatest baseball movies of all-time!

There's certainly no shortage of great baseball movies. It was incredibly difficult to make a list of the 5 best. That means we were leaving out some outstanding movies. Some of the ones that missed the list deserve to be on it. You also might disagree with some of the choices that made the list. Your opinion is valid. Let us know if we missed your favorite!

It seems like there are more baseball flicks available to watch than any other sport. Sure, football has a lot, too. There's The Replacements, The Longest Yard, Any Given Sunday, and more. Those are some fantastic movies. There are also great basketball movies like Coach Carter, Hustle, and Space Jam (the original, of course). There's only one movie on BASEketball. However, when it comes to sports movies baseball truly has some of the best.

There have been so many great baseball films over the years. Likewise, there have been many not-so-great baseball movies. Those can still be enjoyable! The Benchwarmers isn't a great movie, but it's watchable. Also, I never noticed how many baseball movies Kevin Costner stars in. What's the deal with that? It's like a crazy number, I didn't realize he had such a love for the game. He starred in Chasing Dreams, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, For Love of The Game, and The Upside of Anger. I might even be missing some. That's a good chunk of his resume devoted to baseball movies, I respect that.

Some excellent movies didn't make the list. So, I'll have to quickly shoutout some Honorable Mentions before getting to the Top 5. A League of Their Own, 42, and The Rookie are all solid movies and are definitely worth watching. However, they didn't make the list. I think the 5 that did are just better movies, personally. Here's the list!

Rookie of the Year might be my favorite baseball movie of all-time. In fact, I can say that it is my favorite baseball movie. First, it's hilarious. Daniel Stern steals any scene he's in and delivers countless laughs. Henry's friends are also funny. It's a great movie! We all wanted to be Henry growing up.

Moneyball was a fantastic movie. It was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars but didn't end up winning. I think that was a mistake. It's got a loaded cast starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Chris Pratt, and more. It doesn't get old. Too bad the A's still can't get out of that hole. The movie really had me pulling for them (if they weren't playing my team).

Field of Dreams is a classic. Is it my favorite baseball movie? No. However, it's still worthy of making the list. We're still quoting the movie decades later (even if we're not exactly quoting it correctly). It's one of many baseball movies to star Kevin Costner, and it's probably the best of the lot.

"Just a bit outside!" Who can forget that iconic line? Playing baseball, we'd constantly be quoting the movie and that was always a go-to. It's definitely one of the best baseball movies ever and gives you everything you want. Charlie Sheen was certainly winning with this one. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out!

Did we save the best for last? Quite possibly. The Sandlot is a classic and doesn't get old. It's funny, nostalgic, and a great movie from start to finish. There's quotable lines, heart, and more. It's one of the best picks to kick off the baseball season!