Larry Brown Sports

It takes a variety of pranks to make the baseball prank world go ’round.  There are those that are designed simply to screw with your psyche and those that are meant embarrass the heck out of you.  Then, there are those that are meant to force you to change your cell phone number.  And finally, there are some pranks that are just plain dangerous and should only be attempted by professionals.

As Big League Stew pointed out, Justin Verlander is apparently one of those professionals.  Verlander gave a new meaning to the term “flamethrower” on Sunday with his dugout prank during a game against the Twins. Check out the video of Justin Verlander’s hot foot prank on Don Kelly, courtesy of MLB.com:

Personally, I think I’d rather have a pie in the face.

Mike Trout, a highly-touted outfield prospect from the Los Angeles Angels, recently broke an unwritten rule during team exercises. For that, his phone bill will pay accordingly.  According to Off Base Percentage, Trout spoke out of turn during one of Mike Scioscia’s team building exercises.  Pitcher Jered Weaver was reportedly offended and decided to play a prank on Trout to teach him a lesson.

Weaver — or some other teammate if the pitcher is being falsely accused — arranged for Trout’s cell phone number to be plastered on the scoreboard at Temple Diablo Stadium at various points throughout the game. Lucky for the 19-year-old, there were only 2,822 people on hand to watch the spring training game between the Angels and A’s.  Still, teammate Joel Pineiro said his phone was “blowing up” in his locker during the game.

We’ve seen plenty of baseball pranks before, but this one seems like more of a nuisance than a practical joke.  Rather than thinking to himself, “haha you got me,” Trout has to be thinking, “great, now I have to get a new cell phone number and let everyone know about it.” That being said, I doubt he’ll ever speak out of turn again during one of his manager’s team building exercises.

When it comes to sports pranks, NFL rookie hazing is pretty good, but nothing beats baseball pranks. I saw this story at Deadspin last week and meant to post it up the past several days but forgot about it until I saw it on Hot Clicks Monday. Apparently Diamondbacks first baseman Adam LaRoche had been planning a revenge prank on second baseman Kelly Johnson for quite some time and he finally got him back. Check out this hilarious, must-see video and get ready to laugh:

Sources:
At-Bat Music Is Ripe For A Prank [Deadspin]
Diamondback Gets Duped [SI Hot Clicks]

It’s somewhat of a compliment to have your name tossed around at the trade deadline in Major League Baseball. It’s a sign that you’re desired, that teams want you. At the same time, having your name mentioned in trade rumors can also leave you somewhat paranoid. Players will constantly wonder if they’re going to be traded.

Even though he’s having a down season, White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham was worrying about his status. Beckham knew his name was involved in rumors and that GM Ken Williams is unafraid of making shocking deals. Apparently Williams was well aware of Beckham’s mentality and decided to take advantage of the situation. As this video recaps, Kenny called Beckham into manager Ozzie Guillen’s office 10 minutes prior to the trade deadline to screw with the kid’s head. You have to hear more about the pressure-packed situation in this video of Ken Williams pranking Gordon Beckham courtesy of Chicago Breaking Sports:

I don’t know if MLB Network had a camera crew filming the joke for an episode of The Show, but that sure was a made-for-TV moment. As far as baseball pranks go, that was pretty good. Although I do have to say that Adam Dunn’s prank of Jay Bruce is still my favorite.

Video Credit: Chicago Breaking Sports

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of baseball pranks that the vets play on the rookies. What’s there not to like about guys major leaguers toting Hello Kitty backpacks around the yard? Especially at this time of year in September with all the rookies up for roster expansion, the times get even wilder! It’s not just costumes either — some of them can get really creative. Anyway, though we can get caught up in some of the good pranks these days, they weren’t too bad 20 years ago. This anecdote from Living on the Black — John Feinstein’s book about Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina — had me rolling. The following excerpt details a prank pulled on Glavine following his first major league win. Language NSFW.

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Baseball pranks certainly provide tremendous entertainment and help lighten the mood especially when your team’s struggling. One of my favorites was when Jarrod Washburn brought an ostrich into the Angels’ clubhouse and scared the daylights out of Ramon Ortiz. That was tremendous. But what Ken Griffey Jr. did was also fantastic. Apparently he enjoys creating inconveniences for his teammates:

Pitcher Josh Fogg arrived at his locker Wednesday to find it stacked with 60 boxes of pennies, 2,500 pennies to a box. He immediately looked at Griffey and said, “That’s good, Griff, real funny. Kick me when I’m down.”

Griffey warned him but Fogg didn’t believe it when Griffey said he was going to pay off a $1,500 debt in pennies.

“I’m a man of my word,” said Griffey. “When you owe a man $1,500, you pay him. You can’t do a whole lot with pennies, can you? Just think, each box weighs 16 pounds so Fogg has 60 bowling balls in his locker.”

Gotta love Hal McCoy relaying the information that really matters. Like we care about Jeff Keppinger’s knee injury — this is the good stuff. Maybe it’s something about the Reds’ clubhouse. Remember Adam Dunn pranking Jay Bruce? That was pretty solid. I’m not sure which one’s better.

Now don’t get the wrong idea here and think for a second that I’m about to buy into the hype and start posting wonderful tales about Reds prospect Jay Bruce, who can supposedly hit home runs one-handed, and throw balls so hard the whizz makes girls skirts go up. No, I’m just a fan of baseball pranks, and this certainly was a good one. The Enquirer has the details:

Dunn’s most elaborate prank happened Monday. Copies of the “Reds Report,” with Bruce on the cover, arrived in the clubhouse.

The headline next to Bruce’s photo was “The Next Big Thing.”

Dunn had Bruce sign copies for a number of people, including manager Dusty Baker.

Dunn then made Bruce deliver the copy to Baker and ask him if he knew Bruce was the next big thing.

“He came in here all shy,” Baker said. “ ‘It wasn’t my idea. It really wasn’t, Mr. Baker.’ I said, ‘Who’s idea was it?’

“ ‘Adam Dunn.’ ”

“Dunn came by later. I asked him whose idea it was.

“Jay’s all the way.’”

That’s a solid prank right there. Most players are uneasy seeing publications with their names and mugs on the cover. So to personalize one for your manager? That really has to stink. I feel bad for the kid. Thought not as bad as I felt for Kyle Kendrick. That could go down as possibly the greatest prank ever, probably because it was documented on video. If you still haven’t seen it, you must, just keep reading.

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