Nine of the craziest things people have ever done for baseball
Being a baseball fan can be a love affair. The irresistible pull of the game can make people do wildly unreasonable things that they can't even begin to rationalize. Whether it's driving all the way across the country to see all the ballparks, lying to your boss so you can skip work for Opening Day or dropping your life savings on a World Series ticket, folks have some pretty amazing stories about the insane lengths they've gone to for the game they love.
In search of more of these tales of devotion, I posed the following question to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
The responses ranged from the concerning to the inspiring to the downright unbelievable. I went and sifted through all the submissions and here are the nine craziest things people sent in.
The Maddest MadBum Fan
It's one thing to see your favorite pitcher make every single home start. Impressive, but doable. Following Madison Bumgarner on the road all season is a jaw-dropping level of dedication.
The Sunflower Seed Collector
My guy. Do you just have them in a jar somewhere now? This is also a two-birds, one-stone situation because not only did he get to collect used sunflower seeds from the two greatest shortstops in baseball history, but he also got to milk his time running the bases on the field.
The Blue Eyeball
The world of in-between inning Minor League baseball promotions can be an unforgiving hellscape that will literally trample your eyeball at any moment. It's also a world of magical delight and heartwarming glee. Just depends on whether you're the dude in the eyeball suit or not.
The Actual Major League Pitcher
Here's the craziest part: Despite having a heater barely faster than the speed limit in Texas, the 34-year-old was pretty good that year (2015) for the Marlins and Cubs, posting a 3.60 ERA in 187 1/3 innings with a 2.1 WAR.
The Best Negotiator Ever
People throw the word "genius" around a lot. You hear names like Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Kendrick Lamar. Whatever. Forget all that. This is true genius.
The Wedding Cake Fortune Teller
Wedding cakes aren't a typical medium for super bold World Series predictions, but I'm a huge fan of this move. Also, get wrecked, Sports Illustrated.
The Stadium Sleeper
As kids, we all dreamed about getting to live in a baseball stadium. This hero actually did it and lived to tell the tale.
The Journey of a Lifetime
Watching a baseball game alone is one of the coolest things you can do as a fan, but I can imagine the Uber driver saying, "Oh, are you meeting anyone at the game?" And then our friend Tricia here being like, "Uh, nah."
The Ultimate Tribute