Be careful when you join the Angels team: you might get punked on the scoreboard

When Mike Trout joined the Angels baseball team as the youngest camp player that year, he didn’t expect to be welcomed with a prank. The Angels are known for their sense of humor and made sure that Mike didn’t forget the first time he walked onto the field to play.

At only nineteen years of age, Mike Trout should have expected something from the Angels team. As the youngest player and listed as number eighty five in the Baseball America ranking, Mike was simply ripe for a prank. It seems that one of the Angels team members arranged for Mike’s cell phone number to be posted on the electronic scoreboard during mid game. A message accompanied the number encouraging fans to call and ask Mike their personal baseball questions. Jim Duquette, MLB radio network host was quick to ‘tweet’ the prank and the message was soon escalated to ‘viral’ status.

The Angels are not the only team to enlist pranks as a part of the welcoming committee. Baseball teams, specifically, seem to excel in this practice. Over the years the pranks have covered a wide area from the typical pie-in-the-face to super gluing a new team member’s suitcase shut.

I don’t know if anyone actually keeps a list of the best pranks. I couldn’t find anything on the net for a rating. One of the best that was recorded was teammate Corey Koskey putting peanut butter in David Ortiz’ underwear while he was showering. The roars of laughter were escalated when it was revealed that Ortiz didn’t even notice until after the underwear was on and being worn. Adam Piatt of the Athletics was a known prankster, but they got him back when they applied Icy Hot to his jock strap.

It seems that spring training time brings out the best in these guys when it comes to the level they will go to for pranks. Kyle Kendrick was informed that he had actually been traded off to a Japanese baseball team in exchange for the famed winning eater of the most hotdogs. They not only wrote a contract in kanji characters, but extended this to his jersey as well. Apparently everyone was in on the joke, even Kendrick’s mother.

One of the more famous Red Sox jokes involved a rare, impromptu security meeting for the office. There was talk of a guy that had been reported ‘flashing’ stadium attendees. A video was actually taken of a young Kevin Millar as he performed karaoke to “Born in the USA’ by Bruce Springsteen. The video became known as a sensation at Fenway Park and was played an inordinate number of times during their “Cowboy Up”.

So Mike, you may have had one heck of a cell phone bill that you didn’t expect when you walked out on that field, but understand you are not alone. The new kid on the block, especially the youngest, is fair game and you are a member of a very elite group that can share the stories for years to come.