FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The bulletin board closest to the door in the Twins’ Spring Training clubhouse shows that day’s schedule. Typically, you see coaches’ meetings, stretch times, what time the clubhouse opens -- you know, normal baseball player stuff.
That’s why the schedule for Friday caught my eye.
Action: “2 Stacks.” (In bold.) Location: “Undisclosed Location.”
… What?
So, at around 10:20 a.m. ET, I trudged downstairs, outside the air-conditioned press box and into the creeping tinges of the Florida humidity, because I’d heard through the grapevine that “Undisclosed Location” might refer to the main field. That’s where I ran into this guy.
That’s first-base coach Hank Conger, and no, that’s not how he usually dresses. Clearly, there was some sort of competition afoot. He informed us that “Undisclosed Location” had been changed to the Players’ Parking Lot, down at the end of the tunnel. So, we followed. We walked past a large box of eggs (purchased by clubhouse attendant Austin Cozad) -- and in that moment, the nature of “2 Stacks” became clear.
Twins Egg Toss.
Manager Rocco Baldelli oversaw the proceedings from a podium in the corner, where he had a microphone set up. Soon, the players arrived en masse and started grabbing eggs. Members of the front office jostled for the best views, climbing up a set of metal stairs on the side of the lot for a birds-eye view.
“I can’t find my partner,” said a puzzled Bailey Ober, amid the chaos. “Pablo?”
Baldelli presented the rules. Each round would involve two tosses of the egg, one partner to the other, then back. Feet would have to stay behind the line. No hard-boiled eggs -- the winner will be checked! He was interrupted in the middle, because 80 people were missing, having gone to the field -- the original undisclosed location. (That’s where Pablo was.) Athletic trainer Masamichi Abe gave a rousing rendition of the national anthem.
And the competition got underway. Players had picked their own partners. Dai Sekizaki, interpreter for Kenta Maeda, was partnered with Trevor Megill for some reason. Conger and bench coach Jayce Tingler served as referees.
The first round (from 10 feet) went by without much issue. These are professional throwers and catchers of round objects, after all. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey surveyed the battleground, and, in his highly trained baseball opinion, he figured the catchers had to do well, because they -- in theory -- have the best receiving skills. He threw out Jair Camargo as a possible player to watch.
“[The betting service] has to have the infielders at the top,” Baldelli said.
Then, in Round 2, a huge groan, and plenty of pointing. The first broken egg belonged to non-roster reliever Austin Schulfer.
“Terrible performance,” said Randy Dobnak, his partner. “I got nothing else to say. A lot of nerves on the other side.”
Eventually, the crowd narrowed around the final three pairs: Kyle Garlick and Dennis Santana (the last two arrivals to camp); Jorge López and José De León; and Jhoan Duran and Jorge Alcala. Not long after Garlick made the highlight of the game -- a one-handed snag just above the asphalt -- López had his egg break in his hands.
Garlick’s own toss was handled snugly by Santana, which left Alcala to make another arcing toss to Duran, who cradled the egg in his hands -- but quickly, it became clear that egg white was oozing from between his fingers. He threw the remnants of the egg to the ground -- and that was that.
“[Garlick] dominated the egg toss event,” Baldelli said of the outfielder, who was the last to arrive in camp on Friday due to family considerations. “Arrive, crush everyone in the secret competition. He does know how to make an entrance. That was fun, to see him out there doing that. Not one that's probably at the top of the list for [betting services].”
The winning egg was checked for possible hard-boiling by smashing it on Conger’s head. (It was raw.) After Garlick and Santana got their hugs and high-fives, they received $1,000 and a pair of signed Tony Oliva jerseys as their reward.
They could have taken that time before another Spring Training game to do drills and take batting practice, as they normally would, but why not bring the whole group together for a silly bonding activity -- and direct that competitive energy toward some lighthearted fun?
“We want to have some fun,” Baldelli said. “It's something that no matter how old you are, you're going to have a good time while you're doing it. I think it played out the way we wanted it to. It didn't really prepare us for the game. It was a pretty terrible game. It was one of the uglier games you'll see.”
(A few hours later, the Twins committed four errors in a 9-4 loss to the Red Sox.)
“It was all worth it.”