Carlos Correa offered an explanation last week for why Jose Altuve did not want his teammates tearing off his jersey after the second baseman belted a walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS, and Altuve may have tried to provide further evidence on Monday.
Correa told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that Altuve did not want his jersey ripped off in celebration because Altuve had “an unfinished tattoo on his collarbone that honestly looked terrible.” Naturally, fans flocked to social media to see if they could find any photos of Altuve shirtless that would confirm or deny what Correa said. Then on Monday, Altuve walked around bare-chested in front of a group of reporters in the clubhouse. There was, indeed, a tattoo on his left collarbone.
Classic: Jose Altuve walks to locker, towel over shoulder. Big mob of reporters. He grabs some workout stuff, drops towel from shoulder, reveals tatioo, walks off as he’s pulling shirt over head without a word.
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) February 17, 2020
Altuve tattoo by the way: Small, front of left shoulder, says “Melanie” over a heart.
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) February 17, 2020
The tattoo says “Melanie,” which is Altuve’s 3-year-old daughter’s name, and has a heart. We still don’t know when Altuve got the tattoo or why it would have looked horrible at one point, but it seems like he was intentionally flashing the ink to reporters.
Rumors flew last month that Altuve did not want his jersey torn off because he was hiding an electronic buzzer that some Astros players wore to help them steal signs.
Those who are fully invested in this investigation pointed out that Altuve shared a photo on Instagram last July that showed him without a shirt on. That would have been a few months before the ALCS, and he did not have a tattoo at the time. The photo was captioned “Off Day,” and the Astros were off on July 29.
Picture from Altuve’s Instagram from July 2019. Was is a really bad temporary tattoo that Correa was talking about? pic.twitter.com/qFrmtAbf28
— mikejones (@mikejon44258431) February 15, 2020
As expected, we really don’t have any answers. Altuve has a tattoo now. There’s no way of knowing when he got it, what it looked like unfinished, or if he was actually embarrassed to show it off. What we do know is that fans aren’t the only ones mocking the tattoo excuse.
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