LOOK: Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello trolls ejection while raising money for charity
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Such is the outlook for Tennessee head baseball coach Tony Vitello, who was recently ejected for chest bumping umpire Jeffrey Macias on Saturday, April 16. The Volunteers were facing off against the Alabama Crimson Tide and things got heated in a hurry. He was suspended for four games for his chest bump. So the popular head coach decided to make the most out of his suspension and charge $2.00 chest bumps for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit that helps veterans and active duty service members.
Check it out below.
The chest bumps for charity are yet another reason why Tony Vitello is one of the most popular baseball coaches on the planet right now. It was estimated that have gave out anywhere from 10-15 chest bumps on Wednesday. Vitello also made a donation to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at the University of Tennessee–the group that was in charge of the fund raising on Wednesday. Simply put, the Vols’ head baseball coach is a perfect example of taking a negative thing and spinning it into a positive.
If you need a little bit of a recap as to why Vitello was ejected, check out the recap below.
TONY VITELLO EJECTED FOR CHEST BUMPING JEFFREY MACIAS
Alabama’s Zane Denton hit a line drive off of Tennessee starting pitcher Chase Dollander. The Vols got the out to close out the inning, but Dollander fell to the ground in pain. Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson quickly came out of the dugout yelling at the Alabama dugout and had to be separated by the umpires.
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello wasn’t far behind as their trainer was looking at Dollander. Both coaches were arguing with a number of umpires when Anderson was then ejected. That escalated matters and Tony Vitello started arguing with third base umpire Jeffrey Macias. They argued for about a minute before Macias ejected Vitello. Then after he was ejected, Vitello took his hat off and marched towards Macias and bumped him. Macias jumped back a bit once he was bumped and the two were then separated by the other umpires.
Watch it here.
During Vitello’s suspension, Josh Elander is serving as the Volunteers acting head coach. Vitello is set to return on Sunday in Tennessee’s series finale at Florida.