Clubhouse Hijinx + Celebrity Guests
The A's have always been known for having a very open clubhouse, with a very warm, fun feel to it.
Every clubhouse is unique, but the A's, for any number of reasons, have always have one of the better clubhouse environments in baseball--and this year is no exception.
In the midst of that looseness, people have their own rituals and their own preparations. We start with Crosby: 10 minutes before the game, he's going to select the bats that he wants to bring down to the dugout to play with that day. Every player has got his own feel for something like that. It's a real gut thing. It's a cross between feel and superstition and what bat feels right for me today...what bat has hits in it, things like that.
In the training room, getting ready for the game. And yet, they are going through--what for this club is typical pre-game hijinx--and it keeps people loose, and it shows that we've really got good chemistry. Who says atomic bomb taken orally can't help shin splints?
Friends and players marveling that Ludacris has skills not just in the recording studio and on the stage, but on the diamond.
Ludacris hanging out with his posse, Jack Cust and Travis Buck before the game. I don't know who's more excited about it: them, or our guys. Cust looks like he's definitely down and he's from their hood, and they're all rolling to a hip-hop club in Jersey.
Travis Buck, showing he's human: he does put his pants on one leg at a time. You can really see its almost like big brother, little brother, here with Keith Foulke's son. He's in the clubhouse all the time with his dad, but its sort of an extended family of his dad and 24 older brothers.
This is a ritual that the A's have been doing for years: when we win a game, the clubbies put on a special tune that we play throughout the year (at concert intensity) and anybody who played in the game (in this case, Andrew Brown, Keith Foulke) and a number of other clubhouse players and attendants all wait and greet everyone who comes in with high-fives, and the celebration begins...
The pitchers' meeting is something that happens the first game of every new series. It usually takes place in Manager Bob Geren's office. The entire pitching staff comes in and Pitching Coach Curt Young goes over the opposing team's roster player by player, in this case, the Minnesota Twins. They talk about what the player has done, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. What I like about this picture is you have varying degrees of attention. Embree kind of paying attention...Gaudin having his drink...Eveland looking at Curt like, "Yeah!"
Frank Thomas had joined the A's that morning, come into the clubhouse, got his uniform, gone out and taken batting practice. Now Frank has come back in and we're going out onto the field to play the game in 30 minutes and he's in the lineup, so Tony DeFrancesco is sitting at his locker with him going over the signs. Frank is hitting the ground running and so have the A's as they end the most successful April in years.
Z & S
Every clubhouse is unique, but the A's, for any number of reasons, have always have one of the better clubhouse environments in baseball--and this year is no exception.
In the midst of that looseness, people have their own rituals and their own preparations. We start with Crosby: 10 minutes before the game, he's going to select the bats that he wants to bring down to the dugout to play with that day. Every player has got his own feel for something like that. It's a real gut thing. It's a cross between feel and superstition and what bat feels right for me today...what bat has hits in it, things like that.
In the training room, getting ready for the game. And yet, they are going through--what for this club is typical pre-game hijinx--and it keeps people loose, and it shows that we've really got good chemistry. Who says atomic bomb taken orally can't help shin splints?
Friends and players marveling that Ludacris has skills not just in the recording studio and on the stage, but on the diamond.
Ludacris hanging out with his posse, Jack Cust and Travis Buck before the game. I don't know who's more excited about it: them, or our guys. Cust looks like he's definitely down and he's from their hood, and they're all rolling to a hip-hop club in Jersey.
Travis Buck, showing he's human: he does put his pants on one leg at a time. You can really see its almost like big brother, little brother, here with Keith Foulke's son. He's in the clubhouse all the time with his dad, but its sort of an extended family of his dad and 24 older brothers.
This is a ritual that the A's have been doing for years: when we win a game, the clubbies put on a special tune that we play throughout the year (at concert intensity) and anybody who played in the game (in this case, Andrew Brown, Keith Foulke) and a number of other clubhouse players and attendants all wait and greet everyone who comes in with high-fives, and the celebration begins...
The pitchers' meeting is something that happens the first game of every new series. It usually takes place in Manager Bob Geren's office. The entire pitching staff comes in and Pitching Coach Curt Young goes over the opposing team's roster player by player, in this case, the Minnesota Twins. They talk about what the player has done, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. What I like about this picture is you have varying degrees of attention. Embree kind of paying attention...Gaudin having his drink...Eveland looking at Curt like, "Yeah!"
Frank Thomas had joined the A's that morning, come into the clubhouse, got his uniform, gone out and taken batting practice. Now Frank has come back in and we're going out onto the field to play the game in 30 minutes and he's in the lineup, so Tony DeFrancesco is sitting at his locker with him going over the signs. Frank is hitting the ground running and so have the A's as they end the most successful April in years.Z & S
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