For more than 40 years, Roosevelt Brown has played and coached baseball at every level the game has to offer.

Last weekend, during a 9U tournament game at Vicksburg’s Key City Park — and in the days after — he encountered something new.

Brown was involved in an altercation with home plate umpire Kendrick Wooten following a brief argument. A video of the incident went viral, and now Brown is speaking out to explain his side and defend his name.

“I’ve still got a name. This situation is not going to resonate just in Vicksburg. I’ve got people I know in Japan, Canada, all over the country that are going to know about it,” said Brown, who played for four seasons in Major League Baseball and two in Japan during a pro career that lasted from 1993 to 2005. “This affects me on multiple levels. The less I say, the more people are going to think I’m guilty of something.”

The incident started in the bottom of the third inning of a game between Brown’s Sandlot Legends 9U team and the Aggies out of Choudrant, Louisiana. Wooten called a strike on a high pitch, and Brown disputed the call while standing next to the first base dugout.

Wooten explained his call, then walked toward the dugout and ejected Brown from the game.

At that point, things quickly turned physical. Brown said Wooten came within inches of him, so he pushed the umpire away. Brown said Wooten then threw a punch, so he tackled Wooten as other coaches rushed in to break up the fight.

A video posted to Facebook shows the altercation, but not the exact moment it got violent. The camera is focused on home plate, and Wooten walked out of frame as he reached the dugout. By the time they came back into view, the two were at the bottom of a pile of bodies.

Brown said Wooten was the aggressor, and he was only acting in self defense. He said he only grabbed Wooten and tackled him, and did not throw any punches.

Brown can be heard on the video saying, “You’d better back up,” just before the fight begins.

Grand Slam, the sanctioning body for the tournament, has a rule that sets a line neither coaches nor umpires are allowed to cross during a dispute. It is designed to prevent incidents like this one. Brown did not leave the dugout area, but Wooten crossed the imaginary boundary when he walked toward it and Brown.

“Of course I regret it. It happened on a field with kids around. But you control the controllables. In that situation, I had to control myself from being hurt. I never want to see violence on the field,” Brown said. “Anybody with some sense will regret that happening. But do I regret defending myself? No.”

Following an ejection, coaches are required to immediately leave the field. However, only 10 seconds elapsed from the time Wooten ejected Brown to the time the fight began — barely enough time to even register what was happening, Brown said.

“Some people were saying why didn’t I leave? I didn’t have time to leave,” Brown said. “I’ve been coaching for 15 or 16 years. Every time they say something like that I back up, give them room, and we talk about it.”

Earlier in the game, the Aggies’ coach was also ejected.

“I don’t remember what it was, but it wasn’t wasn’t anything that warranted being thrown out of the game,” Brown said.

The scrum was broken up in about 30 seconds, but the fallout has lasted all week.

Brown and his brother Michael, who also coaches the team and ran to Roosevelt’s aid, were suspended by the sanctioning organization Grand Slam. Wooten and his fellow umpire Deatrin Cooper were also suspended.

The Sandlot Legends program was initially banned from playing in any Grand Slam-sanctioned tournaments, but that penalty was lifted the following day.

Last weekend’s tournament was the last of the season for the Legends 9U team. Its 11U team will play in a tournament in Ridgeland this weekend, without the Brown brothers coaching them.

Grand Slam is one of about a half-dozen companies that sanction tournaments in Mississippi and other states.

“The owner (of Grand Slam) said he would not be punishing the kids,” said Anna Burnett Tillotson, who is a co-owner of The Sandlot training facility with Brown. “Our kids can play. We have assistant coaches and parents who are stepping up so they can play.”

Mike Narmour, Grand Slam’s state director for Mississippi, said the coaches and umpires were suspended until the organization’s investigation is complete.

“At this time we have been advised to not say much other than this was truly a terrible and disgraceful action of adults in front of a bunch of 9-year-old children. Both coaches and umpires are suspended pending the outcome of the investigation,” Narmour said in an email to The Vicksburg Post.

In a separate email sent to coaches statewide on Thursday and shared with The Post, Narmour said Grand Slam is implementing a new policy in response to last week’s events.

Coaches and fans who are ejected must leave the field immediately or face a two-tournament suspension for the first offense, a four-tournament suspension for a second offense, and a one-year suspension for a third offense.

Umpires who engage in aggressive behavior toward coaches or fans will be suspended for at least one year for the first offense and permanently for a second offense.

“We have to prevent such altercations,” Narmour wrote.

Burnett Tillotson, whose son plays on the Legends 9U team that was on the field last Saturday, said she was concerned about future incidents.

“From a parent standpoint, if the umpires are not able to control themselves with the coaches, there are 12-year-olds who are as tall as adults. What if one of those kids questioned a call? Would the umpire lash out at a child?” she said.

Brown and Burnett Tillotson said they both have been frustrated with the pace of Grand Slam’s investigation so far. In an email to The Vicksburg Post on Friday, however, Narmour said the possibility of legal action by both sides — including criminal charges — has slowed things down.

Mike Bryant, Deputy Chief of the Vicksburg Police Department, said that as of Friday afternoon no active warrants had been issued in the case.

Brown hopes to have it resolved before the spring youth baseball season begins in February. He said he was only defending himself and did nothing wrong, and by speaking out now he’s also trying to defend his name and business.

“My name means everything to me,” Brown said. “I try to carry myself as a professional because I’m trying to teach the kids a professional attitude.”

Brown and The Sandlot also have their supporters, which Burnett Tillotson said was encouraging. Although some criticized Brown on social media once the video of the fight was posted, many voiced their support.

“I have been very impressed with the parents who no longer play for our organization who have stood up for us,” Burnett Tillotson said. “The baseball community is definitely a family. I think the actions of the parents who stepped in really is heartening.”

Brown also thanked those who have supported him and The Sandlot. He’s hoping to put this incident behind them soon.

“My parents, baseball and softball, have been strong about it,” he said. “We’re going to try to resolve it and move forward.”