It's been 16 years since Lloyd McClendon got tossed and decided to take first base with him

Baseball has seen more than its fair share of memorable ejections over the years. Lou Piniella treated his poor hat like a pinata. Bobby Valentine snuck back into the dugout as Vobby Balentine, international man of mystery and mustaches. Joe Mikulik ... well, words cannot adequately describe what Joe Mikulik did:

But of the myriad ways that very angry baseball men have seen fit to express their frustration, arguably none have ever been as passionate -- as pure -- as Lloyd McClendon's ejection strategy. On June 26, 2001, McClendon didn't just get tossed from his Pirates' game against the Brewers: He performed an interpretive dance across the field at PNC Park. Oh, and he took first base with him.

The 2001 season was a difficult one for the Pirates. Pittsburgh finished 62-100 -- its first 100-loss season in nearly 50 years -- and a full 31 games out of first in the NL Central. But if there's one thing we know about Lloyd McClendon, it's that he manages every game as if it's his last -- as first-base umpire Rick Reed would soon discover.
Tied at 4 in the bottom of the seventh in a late-June game against Milwaukee, Pittsburgh catcher and Cut4 Hall of Famer Jason Kendall was called out on a very close play at first. Kendall and first-base coach Tommy Sandt immediately protested the call, but were soon called off by McClendon, who had come storming out of the Pirates dugout and across the diamond.
The skipper began to plead his case, but it wasn't long before Reed had heard enough and tossed him from the game. But McClendon refused to go gently into that good night: If Kendall wouldn't be allowed to stand on first base, then no one would.

But, while you've probably heard the beginning of this story, you might not know how it ends. What exactly happened to that base, anyway? 
To his immense credit, McClendon wasn't satisfied with merely hollow protests. He didn't just pretend to carry the first-base bag away -- he literally carried the first-base bag into the dugout. It soon found a home at the bottom of the dugout steps, where it was crowned with a Pirates cap by a helpful batboy:

The game did eventually go on, of course -- a member of the Pirates grounds crew eventually came jogging out with a new base, much to the dismay of the crowd. And, no doubt inspired by its newfound mascot (sorry, Parrot), Pittsburgh even managed to rally for a win: After Aramis Ramirez hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the 11th, Rob Mackowiak slapped a single into right to score the winning run in the 12th.