Brandon Belt felt like the San Francisco Giants needed a spark Friday against the Chicago Cubs, and he had an unusual way of making it happen.
The Giants’ TV broadcast spotted Belt with the letter “C” taped to his uniform during Friday’s game, with no explanation. The implication was obvious — Belt was the team captain, albeit self-appointed. After the game, he explained his reasoning.
Brandon Belt taped a C on his chest for today’s game:
When asked why: “Somebody has got to step up, and when you're the alpha male on the team it's got to be you. I put the 'C' on my chest and I went to work today and thankfully it worked out."
He went 2-3 with a bomb pic.twitter.com/Cq4GGwYJ7A
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) September 10, 2021
This apparently came about because of Evan Longoria, who taped the letter on as a joke and didn’t expect Belt to keep it on.
Evan Longoria said he was the one who put the 'C' on Brandon Belt's jersey because Belt was claiming on the plane and bus that he was the captain of the team. Longoria didn't think Belt was actually going to wear it out to the field.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 10, 2021
Belt homered, drove in two, scored twice, and reached base four times. Clearly, the tactic worked in what turned out to be a 6-1 Giants win.
We do know Belt has a pretty good sense of humor. Maybe this actually was pretty amusing to his teammates, but it certainly seems to have motivated Belt. Maybe he should keep it up.
