Ballpark Pranks

[Haphazard]

These antics don't seem to be as present in the dugouts anymore nowadays, but help me compile a list of pranks and/or well known pranksters.

Example: The hot foot or Pie/shaving cream in the face.

[drillerman]

the sasuage incident

[Captain Cold Nose]

In Carl Yastrzemski's second autobiography, he talks about the practical jokes he would pull. Luis Aparicio was his favorite victim. Aparicio took a lot of pride in his appearance and clothes, and Yaz would "alter" the honorary AL All Star Team captain's duds.

Jay Johnstone, in his book "Temporary Insanity" tells of a few of the jokes he pulled, such as replacing all of the celebrity photos in Tommy LaSorda's office with autographed pictures of Johnstone, Jerry Reuss and Don Stanhouse. He also tells of the time he tried to pass off apple juice as his urine specimen and then drank it right in front of the team nurse.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Putting stuff in guys' equipment is a big source of pranks.

One which comes to mind occurred during a spring training game in 1988, when Jesse Orosco victimized Kirk Gibson, both of whom were in their first year with the Dodgers.

Orosco (a remarkable story, by the way, still being in the Majors this season at age 46) was a free-spirit who had most recently played with the party-hearty Mets, while Gibson was a maniacal competitor who wore his game face at all times.

One fine spring day, Orosco put shoe polish in Gibson's cap. When Gibson discovered it, he went wild, smashing things in the dugout and clubhouse, and vowing to basically behead the culprit.

I believe that Graig Nettles's book Balls has some funny prank stories, about things like putting shaving cream in guys' caps and putting hot dogs in the fingers of gloves.

[Chisox73]

During a game in the late 80s,Cubs pitcher Rick Sutcliffe sent the batboy out to home plate to ask the umpire if he had the key to the batter's box.The kid had to be about 8 at the time.It was even more hilarious when the umps got wind of it and went along with the prank and sent the batboy back to the dugout to ask one of the coaches because the ump didn't have a key.Even Steve Stone took us step-by-step on the prank during the telecast,describing what was happening.

[Chisox73]

Probably the best prank was when Joe Carter,then with the Blue Jays organized a giveaway in which a lucky fan would go home with a new car.

After the game,the fans at Skydome stayed around to see who would win the car.What the fans didn't know that the car belonged to Blue Jays outfielder Derek Bell.

As soon as the outfield gate swung open,Joe Carter comes pulls up in Derek Bell's car.The look on Bell's face was priceless because he thought that he was going to lose his car to some lucky fan.

To me,that was the most elaborate prank that I've ever seen.

[Hammerin Hank]

[VOICE=Mark Grace]"Sut was the best practical joker. Always with the practical jokes. He was the guy who'd set your shoes on fire, rip your clothes to shreds while you're on the field, or scald you with coffee. But he was a great teammate. All of these guys were....

"Like I said, Sutcliffe was a practical joker. He liked to poke a hole in the bottom of a Gatorade bottle and fill it with that bright red Gatorade, then plug it with his thumb as he's carrying it around. I'm in the dugout, two outs, and he walks by me, looks down at his shoelaces, which are untied, and bends down to tie them and says, 'Damn, Gracie, hold this for me.' So I do, and the whole time he's tying his shoes, I've got this red stuff spraying all over my pants. It was soaked before I knew it, and here comes the third out. I don't have time to change my pants, so I have to run out there with that stuff all over me. He got me good with that one."[/VOICE]

[Cubbie Blue]

Sutcliffe was definitley a big timer prankster. The story of the key to the batters box is a classic.

I've always been a fan of a simple but classic baseball prank. Placing a bubble from a piece of chewing gum on the head of a bat boy/teammate/security guard is always great especially when they don't see it for about 3 or 4 innings.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Eddie Collins intentionally would keep a wad of gum on the top of his cap. Whenever he had two strikes on him, he would put the gum in his mouth and chew vigourously. Ted Lyons sprinkled hot pepper on the gum once, and Collins struck out without much of a struggle.

[jhwinfrey]

I'm currently reading Ball Four, by Jim Bouton, which is packed with this kind of stuff: (These are all taken more or less verbatim from the book)

Baltimore pitchers Eddie Watt and Pete Richert snuck into the visitor's bullpen and put 4 fish into Seattle's water cooler. Bullpen coach Eddie O'Brien was so steamed he threatened to protest the game to the Commissioner.

There's also a story about Jim Gosger hiding in a closest while his roommate had a girl in bed. At the height of the activity, she says "I've never done it that way before."
Whereupon Gosger sticks his head out, drawls "Yeah, surrre," and retreats into the closet.

Mel McGaha, manager of the KC A's, once called a team meeting during spring training at 8:00 on a Friday night. Guys had to leave their families and dinner parties and come in from all over the place. Then they got there, McGaha said, "Boys, I'm glad you all got here tonight. We're not really having a meeting. I just wanted to see how quick we could all group up if we had to."

Yankee Joe Pepitone was famous for giving hotfoots. One of the great hotfoots of all time was administered to Pepitone by Phil Linz. The beauty part was that Pepitone was giving a hotfoot to someone else at the time and just as he started to turn around and grin at the havoc he had wrought, a look of horror crossed his face and he began to do an Indian dance.

Pepitone was also famous for wearing hairpieces and being fussy about them. He carried around all kinds of hair equipment in a little blue bag. One day, Fritz Peterson and Bouton were got bored during a blowout the Yankees were winning and they snuck into the clubhouse and filled his hair-dryer with talcum powder. Then they went back to watch the game, and New York proceeded to blow their lead and eventually lose in extra innings, with Pepitone striking out in a key situation. Everyone was surly in the clubhouse, and after a while, Pepitone came out of the shower and turned his hair-dryer on. Whoosh! Instant white. He looked like an Italian George Washington in a powdered wig. Loss or no loss, everybody laughed like hell.

[drillerman]

I have been told by my parents dizzy dean was a prankster in his day as well
didn't he tell you how to bake cookies on the air

[Chadwick]

The Mets of the 1990s were well known for their mischievous (and sometimes malicious) pranks. Vince Coleman, Bret Saberhagen and David Cone all had their turns, among others.

I recall, sometime in the late 1980s, reading in a Street 'n Smith (or some such pre-season annual) that Bert Blyleven was a real clubhouse prankster.

And I'd have hated to be a teammate of Bill Lee's. I can imagine he pulled a few whoppers in his day.

[abolishthedh]

One of my favorite stories happened in the minor leagues in 1986 with the Syracuse team.

Apparently a 30 something catcher was at the end of the line and he knew it. He was committed to the idea of going out with a bang. With a runner on second who was likely to steal third in a blowout game, the pitcher and catcher ignored the runner on second for a couple of pitches. Then, the catcher turned to the ump and claimed he had some kind of emergency, and returned to the clubhouse. The game and the crowd waited for a couple of minutes. I guess the assumption was that he had to do his 'duty' on the stool or something. The catcher was actually stuffing a potato inside his catcher's gear. He returned to the field and the runner on second immediately stole third. The throw to third was deliberately high and wide, but it wasn't the ball bouncing in leftfield. It was the potato! The runner heads home and was tagged out by the catcher.

The catcher was kicked out of baseball for it, but he apparently knew it was time to go. My memory is unclear on a lot of the details of this story, but it has been verified by another friend of mine with a long memory. I must have read it in Sports Illustrated or the Sporting News.

[trillian42]

Bert Blyleven is still somewhat of a prankster, to whomever mentioned his name. He is one of the Twins broadcasters now, and enjoys mooning the players during team photos. As well, he put together a goofy music video for a song written as an ode to his 'circling' career.

Also for the Twins--Corey Koskie (3B) and David Ortiz (DH-now w/ Boston) were big clubhouse pranksters. I believe the most famous incident involved Ortiz' underwear and a jar of peanut butter. Ortiz would also wear fake mustaches and hold up "Circle Me Bert" signs in the dugout during games (there, see how that all ties together?)

[trosmok]

No sense of humor

Rookies are always the favorite targets for clubhouse and on field pranks. The latest victim I saw was the phenom CF of the hapless DevilRays. Upon taking the field in a recent game, his teammates began the "Rocco! Rocco!" chant, every fan in attendance joined in, and that persisted through the entire inning, both halves. When he came to the plate, the home plate ump had to call time. The chant was deafening, and the ump was literally weeping with laughter. He removed his mask and repeatedly tried to dry his eyes, until he finally instructed poor Baldelli to examine his uniform. His fellow DevilRays had taken his jersey, replaced Baldelli with oversized lettering reading: R O C C O ! Good natured kid that he is, he took it in stride, quickly struck out, and dashed to the clubhouse for his jersey, and made it to the centerfield spot before warmups for the second were completed.