The Houston Astros Brilliantly Hazed A Poor Rookie By Parking His Car In Center Field And Hitting Batting Practice

SteveHolt8 years ago

Consider this one a hazing story for the ages.

The Houston Astros have become relevant again for the first time in a decade on the backs of young talent. But the youngest of that talent, the rookies, aren’t getting by unscathed. On Saturday morning, Astros rookie Tyler White learned this the hard way.

From MLB.com:

But around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, the rookie infielder’s shiny white Range Rover was on full display, having been driven around the circumference of the warning track at Minute Maid Park and finding its final resting place on the center field track, directly in front of Tal’s Hill.

There it sat, alone, for more than an hour, with only a smattering of A’s players jogging by it as they went through their morning workout routine.

…

Then, a couple hours before the 3:10 CT scheduled first pitch, Astros players began to trickle onto the field for optional batting practice. White, tipped off by teammates that there was something he needed to tend to on the field, came walking out in shorts and a T-shirt, sipping a bottle of water, seemingly wondering why everyone was looking at him and laughing.

Then White turned his attention toward the outfield, where 400 feet away sat his shiny white Range Rover.

For some reason I can’t embed this video because the MLB is too greedy to share its content, so turn on your AdBlocker and visit this link to check it out for yourself.

AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel essentially endorsed hazing to MLB.com. What a guy.

“Just a nice joke,” Keuchel said. “Rookies get the brunt of a lot of jokes, myself included when I was a rookie. It’s just all fun and games.”

The best part about it was that White’s car actually got rained on by baseballs.

It would be understandable if the first baseman was a little miffed at the unplanned consequence of the car sitting in dead center during batting practice — a Carlos Gomez long fly ball bounced off the roof.

I guess the only way to combat hazing is to go to the front office to complain or to go on a hunger strike. It’s 2016 and that’s how we handle our problems now.

If you are bold enough to purchase a white Range Rover as a rookie, you better be prepared to see that thing go through hell in your first year. Guaranteed to see at least one damaging thing happen to that car before the season is over.

At least White was a good sport about it. And hey, he’ll be able to enact his revenge on next year’s rookies..

[via MLB.com]

Image via YouTube