Ex-Twins pitcher Reardon charged with armed robbery

[Rado]

TweetBY LEON FOOKSMAN

South Florida Sun-SentinelFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -

Four-time Major League Baseball All-Star Jeff Reardon handed a jewelry store worker at a Palm Beach Gardens mall a note that said give him money and jewelry or risk being shot, police said.


He ran off with a bag of money Monday morning, but an officer stopped him near the mall, police said. He offered the officer an explanation: "I am taking medication and I am sorry for what happened," according to a police report.

Reardon, 50, of Palm Beach Gardens, was arrested on an armed robbery charge for allegedly holding up Hamilton Jewelers at The Gardens Mall.
The pitcher once known as "The Terminator" - who helped the Minnesota Twins win the 1987 World Series - didn't have a gun but was caught with $170 that he took from the store, police said.


His family didn't need the money, said his wife of 28 years, Phebe. His career earnings are estimated at about $11.5 million, according to baseball-reference.com.
"This wasn't characteristic of him. He has never been arrested or stolen anything," his wife said. "We're presuming it's his medication that precipitated this."


He has been on antidepressant medication after his 20-year-old son's 2004 drug overdose death, and was taking other medication following a heart angioplasty last week, his wife said. Phebe Reardon said her husband told her after the arrest that he didn't remember what happened at the mall.
"It was a psychotic episode," she said.


Reardon began his big-league career in 1979 with the New York Mets and later established himself as one of the game's premier closers in a six-year tenure with the Montreal Expos. In 1985, he won the National League Rolaids Relief Man Award after the first of three seasons with 40 or more saves. That was also the first of four consecutive seasons in which Reardon finished either first or second in the league in saves.


He also pitched for the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees during his 16 seasons that ended in May 1994 when the Yankees released him. He remains sixth on the all-time saves list with 367. He was considered for the Hall of Fame in 2000 but got less than 5 percent of the votes needed and was removed from future balloting.


A resident of PGA National Golf Club since the early 1980s, Reardon has taken part in charitable events, played golf and participated in Little League baseball in Palm Beach County and Pittsfield, Mass., defense attorney Mitchell Beers said.


"He's just a real quiet guy, doesn't say a whole lot," added Tommy Hutton, Florida Marlins television analyst and a teammate of Reardon's with the Expos. "He was that way as a closer. Aside from his beard, he didn't have any shtick. He just saved games."


Hutton recalls Reardon helping out at his baseball academy, where he preferred to work one-on-one with kids rather than give speeches.
"You can ask any teammate on any team he ever played on, and they'll tell you what a good teammate he was," Hutton said.


Why Reardon went to the mall Monday isn't clear, but it wasn't to rob the store, Beers said.

A store employee told police that Reardon, wearing all black, walked in around 11:45 a.m. and passed a note demanding money and jewelry. The note also said that he had a gun and no one would be shot if they obeyed, police said. The employee gave him cash in a green shopping bag. After the employee told him the store didn't have much money, Reardon asked for jewelry, police said.


He then ran off with the store manager trailing him. An officer stopped Reardon outside of P.F. Chang's restaurant. Later, he admitted to police, "I completely lost my mind and tried to rob (a) jewelry store. I flipped on my medications and didn't realize what I was doing."


After spending a night at the Palm Beach County Jail, Reardon was released Tuesday afternoon on $5,000 bond. He will be required to undergo a mental health evaluation and be restricted from leaving his home.


When he returned home, Reardon was upbeat, Beers said. Reardon will now evaluate his medication to determine what caused the "bizarre" incident, Beers said.



blame it on the meds

[yamaha147]

Tweetdamn....antidepressant meds are very scary if ur prescribed to the wrong type...ive seen crazy things like this happen to friends of mine..

[Rado]

Tweet

damn....antidepressant meds are very scary if ur prescribed to the wrong type...ive seen crazy things like this happen to friends of mine..

Yea I know...It's just a shame what meds can do to people...Next thing you know, dr's are going to start getting sued or fined for giving out the wrong meds....I can see it happening already...