Limo Driver Tells of Marlins Pitcher Sean West's Night on the Town

One thing I have never understood about professional athletes is why they do not hire limo drivers when they are out on the town. They certainly have enough cash at their disposal and this way they can go out, have a good time and still be responsible about things.

Marlins pitcher Sean West has done the very thing that I advocated. However, according to a report by Dan Gross in the Gossip Page of the Philadelphia Daily News, West still managed to be irresponsible during a night on the town with a limo service. I guess we need to make progress with baby steps.

According to Gross' report, West was involved in two altercations. He also had a group of five women (dubbed cleat chasers in the article), one of whom got sick in the limo and another who West allegedly "announced his intent to have sex with" before leaving the sick woman and her other companions.

The source of Gross' article was the limo driver, named Big Penny. This was a source of amusement for me because when I first read the piece, I read that name as Brad Penny, a former pitcher for the Marlins, who this season pitched for the Red Sox and Giants. Brad Penny did not have a very good season, but still I was surprised that he was running a limo service.

And even after I realized my error, it was still funny. Many years ago, Nike had a successful commercial campaign featuring Penny Hardaway and a little wooden puppet nicknamed Lil Penny, which was voiced by Chris Rock. Hardaway's NBA career ended several seasons ago, so I could envision him strapped for cash and operating his own business.

But Big Penny probably does not have a background as a professional athlete. However, he was clearly quite upset with West to go to the media with his beefs. Usually, limo drivers have the "What Happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" mentality with their clients. It is not good for business if you go blabbing about what the stars did while in your vehicle.

West is a rookie and not really a star but it is probably still not the best idea for Big Penny to tell what went down in his vehicle. The limo driver was upset that West did not fulfill a promise to help clean up the mess made by his sick companion. Perhaps a call to the ballclub to enlist their help would have been worthwhile. I figure that it would have been worth it to the Marlins to spend a few hundred dollars from petty cash to avoid having this go to the press, especially on the heels of the Miguel Cabrera drinking/domestic incident that was recently the subject of much tabloid fodder.

The 23-year old West made 20 starts for the Marlins this year and compiled an 8-6 record with a 4.79 ERA. It was a pretty successful debut for the former supplemental first-round pick from the 2005 Draft. The 6-foot-8 West has a bright future in front of him and I am glad he is smart enough to hire a limo for his nights out.

Now if he can only learn to treat the hired help better perhaps the only excerpts from his life will be from the sports page and not the gossip one.