Manager Buck Showalter has a reputation for being a no-nonsense type of guy. Having that type of reputation keeps you from being widely beloved, but it creates an excellent front for pranks.

In this excellent prank set up by MLB’s FanCave, Orioles reliever Darren O’Day thinks he’s doing an interview for The Wall Street Journal about an electric unicycle he likes to use. Instead, he was just being set up by Showalter, Jim Johnson, and the MLB FanCave crew.

If you enjoyed that, you’ll like all the other baseball pranks we’ve featured here at LBS.

Mark Reynolds left manager Buck Showalter hanging in one of the funnier moments we’ve seen this season. The Orioles third baseman had crushed a solo home run in the third inning of Friday night’s win over the Red Sox when he made his way to the dugout. The homer was the first of the season for the slumping Reynolds, so his teammates gave him the silent treatment in the dugout — typical protocol for someone breaking out of a power slump. Reynolds recognized he was receiving the silent treatment upon approaching the dugout, so he decided to give a dose of it back, and that’s why he ended up snubbing Showalter.

“I got the silent treatment from the dugout, which was expected,” Reynolds explained, per The Baltimore Sun. “They were all sitting down, so I just ran in the tunnel. I think I stood Buck up. He was trying to give me a five and I ran by him, but I didn’t mean to. I gave him a five when I came back out.”

Even though the snub looked bad, there were no hard feelings. Showalter just hoped the homer was a sign Reynolds was breaking out of his slump. Maybe it was; Reynolds hit another home run on Saturday and raised his average by 40 points with back-to-back 2-for-4 games.

GIF via Chad Moriyama

Is there any out there who really, truly enjoys watching the Home Run Derby? Sure, some of the player antics can be entertaining. It’s fun to watch the camaraderie between some of the game’s best sluggers, but that’s pretty much where it ends. Obviously most of the players across the league are not fond of the event, which is why it seems like more and more hitters turn down the invitation every year.  I don’t think any of them hate the Derby as much as Buck Showalter.

Showalter, who has never been afraid to voice or show his displeasure with something, had some harsh words when asked about the Home Run Derby on Thursday.

“It’s hard to watch the home run hitting contest,” Showalter said. “Obviously, the balls are juiced. Those aren’t normal balls that they’re hitting. I’ve been in Arizona for a long time and you don’t hit balls where they’re hitting them. Trust me. And that’s not a well-kept secret that those aren’t the normal baseballs. But they can’t do anything to baseballs to make them go further, right?”

“I was looking at some of those places they were hitting those balls and I was going, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ But it was entertaining I hear. Did anybody watch it from start to finish?” he continued. “I didn’t think so. It’s unwatchable.”

Easy, killer.  It’s just a game.

By Larry Brown | April 20, 2011 - Posted in YouTubeage

We’ve seen some pretty bad national anthems at sporting events before but I don’t believe the reaction was nearly as harsh as Buck Showalter’s was to this one:

Classic. There was as much incredulousness in that face as Mr. Hand had when he talked with Spicoli. Different eras my friend, different eras.

Thanks to Parker Hageman at Over the Baggy and Bubba Prog for the video

By Steve DelVecchio | March 23, 2011 - Posted in Baseball

Baseball is a game of intimidation. We all know that. It’s such a physical game that all you have to do is talk some serious smack and you are bound to rattle your opponent. Like hockey and football, baseball is a contact sport. Win the mental battle with the opposition and you will win baseball games. For that reason, Buck Showalter and the Orioles will probably win a lot of games against the Red Sox this season.

In an interview with Men’s Journal magazine, via Boston.com, Showalter ripped Red sox GM Theo Epstein about Boston’s payroll.

“I’d like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll,” he barked. “You got Carl Crawford ’cause you paid more than anyone else, and that’s what makes you smarter? That’s why I like whipping their butt. It’s great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying ‘How the hell are they beating us?’”

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