60 Cent
08-22-2006, 10:56 AM
In the beginning, there was the Naked Walk, and it was good.
Twins catcher Mike Redmond would stand near his locker before a game and announce that he needed coffee. He would strip, then troll for caffeine and attention.
Soon, the Naked Walk was not enough. "You've got to keep it fresh," he said.
So when his teammates became accustomed to the Naked Walk, he would step onto the card table holding their cribbage game and strut above them on his way to the kitchen. "I got a little nervous," bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek said, "when he walked over the table and nobody bothered to look. They don't bat an eye at him anymore."
Which brings us to Sunday, the morning of the Twins' latest Big Game, against the White Sox. Redmond saw his name in the lineup, told starting catcher Joe Mauer, "Take the day off and cheer for me, I got it handled," and decided to accessorize his Tools of Ignorance.
Thus, he donned the Magic Girdle, an old, yellowed undergarment that looks as if it once might have supported Kent Hrbek's love handles. "They found it in an old trunk somewhere," Redmond said. "It's pretty cool, and it holds in my obliques."
An hour after modeling the girdle -- and how often do you see that phrase in a baseball story? -- Redmond contributed in the other way to which the Twins have become accustomed, hitting a two-run single in the third inning of their 7-3 victory.
"When I first saw the Naked Walk, it was pretty ... pretty ... well, bad," said Torii Hunter. "It's a tough scene, and he knows it. But he does get guys laughing."
Said locker neighbor Nick Punto: "I actually have to sit and talk to him when he's naked. But he continually gets big knocks for us, and he has some of the best ball-talk I've ever heard."The Naked Walk has gotten pretty normal now," Michael Cuddyer said. "And that's probably sad. When I told him he should come out of his shell, I didn't think he'd take it literally."
Baseball is the most fascinating and literary of games because of the characters who inhabit every clubhouse, and Redmond might be the funniest Twin since Kirby Puckett was luring born-again Brian Harper and biker Dan Gladden into religious debates.
"Today was a big game," Redmond said. "I felt like I needed to try something different, and I think we responded to it, and I'm sure I was the reason."
He laughed, but there is truth there. Redmond is hitting .333 and, on a team without an obvious leader, he's become a mentor for young players and an ice-breaker before big games.
It is not a coincidence that the Twins, with all of their impending contract decisions, have signed one player to an extension -- Redmond.
He lives in and hails from Washington state. Now he and his family are looking to buy a house in the Twin Cities.
"It took a while to get comfortable here, because I had never played anywhere but Florida," he said. "I didn't know how the guys would take to my personality. It's worked out better than I ever anticipated. This is a great group of guys. I'm the oldest guy on the team, but these guys make me have just as much fun as they do.
"I can't imagine going anywhere else at this point. I love the way we play, I love the organization, the way we get after it, and we're scrappy. We've got our own little thing going."
Redmond has created an entire vocabulary for the team White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen calls "The Little Piranhas."
He tells them to "smell those RBIs," which has led to players tapping their noses when they get a big hit. Sunday, he started bobbing his head and yelling, "Shoot it, now!" so often that Stelmaszek thought he was having an attack.
At the heart of the silliness is a passion for the game that you can't fake over a six-month season. "I love baseball," Redmond said. "Today, I was just pumped that I got to play. I still get nervous, just like in Little League."
Nervous? You should see his teammates when he gets coffee. "I think I'm losing it more and more every year," Redmond said of his sanity. "But, hey, we're having a lot of fun."
http://www.startribune.com/150/story/625505.html
Twins catcher Mike Redmond would stand near his locker before a game and announce that he needed coffee. He would strip, then troll for caffeine and attention.
Soon, the Naked Walk was not enough. "You've got to keep it fresh," he said.
So when his teammates became accustomed to the Naked Walk, he would step onto the card table holding their cribbage game and strut above them on his way to the kitchen. "I got a little nervous," bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek said, "when he walked over the table and nobody bothered to look. They don't bat an eye at him anymore."
Which brings us to Sunday, the morning of the Twins' latest Big Game, against the White Sox. Redmond saw his name in the lineup, told starting catcher Joe Mauer, "Take the day off and cheer for me, I got it handled," and decided to accessorize his Tools of Ignorance.
Thus, he donned the Magic Girdle, an old, yellowed undergarment that looks as if it once might have supported Kent Hrbek's love handles. "They found it in an old trunk somewhere," Redmond said. "It's pretty cool, and it holds in my obliques."
An hour after modeling the girdle -- and how often do you see that phrase in a baseball story? -- Redmond contributed in the other way to which the Twins have become accustomed, hitting a two-run single in the third inning of their 7-3 victory.
"When I first saw the Naked Walk, it was pretty ... pretty ... well, bad," said Torii Hunter. "It's a tough scene, and he knows it. But he does get guys laughing."
Said locker neighbor Nick Punto: "I actually have to sit and talk to him when he's naked. But he continually gets big knocks for us, and he has some of the best ball-talk I've ever heard."The Naked Walk has gotten pretty normal now," Michael Cuddyer said. "And that's probably sad. When I told him he should come out of his shell, I didn't think he'd take it literally."
Baseball is the most fascinating and literary of games because of the characters who inhabit every clubhouse, and Redmond might be the funniest Twin since Kirby Puckett was luring born-again Brian Harper and biker Dan Gladden into religious debates.
"Today was a big game," Redmond said. "I felt like I needed to try something different, and I think we responded to it, and I'm sure I was the reason."
He laughed, but there is truth there. Redmond is hitting .333 and, on a team without an obvious leader, he's become a mentor for young players and an ice-breaker before big games.
It is not a coincidence that the Twins, with all of their impending contract decisions, have signed one player to an extension -- Redmond.
He lives in and hails from Washington state. Now he and his family are looking to buy a house in the Twin Cities.
"It took a while to get comfortable here, because I had never played anywhere but Florida," he said. "I didn't know how the guys would take to my personality. It's worked out better than I ever anticipated. This is a great group of guys. I'm the oldest guy on the team, but these guys make me have just as much fun as they do.
"I can't imagine going anywhere else at this point. I love the way we play, I love the organization, the way we get after it, and we're scrappy. We've got our own little thing going."
Redmond has created an entire vocabulary for the team White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen calls "The Little Piranhas."
He tells them to "smell those RBIs," which has led to players tapping their noses when they get a big hit. Sunday, he started bobbing his head and yelling, "Shoot it, now!" so often that Stelmaszek thought he was having an attack.
At the heart of the silliness is a passion for the game that you can't fake over a six-month season. "I love baseball," Redmond said. "Today, I was just pumped that I got to play. I still get nervous, just like in Little League."
Nervous? You should see his teammates when he gets coffee. "I think I'm losing it more and more every year," Redmond said of his sanity. "But, hey, we're having a lot of fun."
http://www.startribune.com/150/story/625505.html