Former National League MVP Kevin Mitchell has been sentenced to three years of probation for attacking a man on a Chula Vista golf course last year.
Mitchell, once a San Diego Padres third baseman, was also ordered to take an anger management class when he was sentenced Monday.
Mitchell pleaded no contest in March to a misdemeanor count of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury stemming from the July 2010 incident at the Bonita Golf Club course.
Leonard Lerma said Mitchell started throwing puncches on the 13th hole.
“I want to show you who I am, motherf--ker," Mitchell said, according to Lerma's testimony in a preliminary hearing. "I’m an old school gangster.”
Lerma also described a fight in which Mitchell slapped him on the cheek, punched him on the cheek and punched him in the forehead.
He told the court Mitchell mentioned he had a gun in his golf bag and wasn't afraid to use it.
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Lerma and Mitchell had taken lessons from the same golfing instructor when later that day, Lerma complained to another man how the golf lesson resulted in his poor play.
Mitchell overheard the discussion and asked why Lerma was badmouthing the instructor. Lerma testified that the two men argued but the argument didn’t escalate that day.
A week later, Lerma was golfing on the 13th hole when he saw Mitchell drive his golf cart toward him with a very firm look on his face, he said. According to Lerma's testimony, Mitchell said, “If you want to know anything about me, ask me to my face and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Then the former major leaguer got out of his golf cart and said, “I want to show you who I am motherf--ker. I’m an old school gangster,” Lerma testified.
It wasn't until another golfer intervened that Lerma said he was able to get away and call 911.
Mitchell won the National League MVP while playing for the Giants in 1989. He also played for the Mets, Padres, Mariners, Reds, Red Sox, Indians and A's.
Mitchell, a San Diego native, has had more than one run-in with the law. In 1999, he was arrested by San Diego police after a fight at his grandmother’s Southcrest home. Mitchell was charged with felony battery after police said the baseball player struck his father in the head, cutting him.
