Sox Rookie Hazing, Oz-Style
Sure, the Yankees rookies may have done the Wizard of Oz theme before – but they didn’t do it with Junichi Tazawa’s beautiful flowing Dorothy locks. Advantage: Red Sox.
Did they make Pedroia dress up as Toto?
And you can all thank WBZ’s Joe Giza for that, and the rest of the photos. Ain’t rookie hazing grand?
Michael Bowden is the Tin Man
Daniel Bard is the Cowardly Lion
Jed Lowrie is a Flying Monkey
From the ProJo:
The rule of thumb is a rookie has to have at least one full year of big-league service before he doesn’t have to dress up, which explains why Lowrie — who was part of last year’s hazing — had to do it again. His disabled-list time this year prevented him from accumulating one full year of service.
Josh Reddick is Glinda the Good Witch
George Kottaras is.. a gay sailor?
Not exactly sure how one of the Village People ties in to the Wizard of Oz theme. Only possible explanation? Whoever was in charge of the costumes forgot to get one for George, and they were forced to dress him up in something out of Jonathan Papelbon’s normal wardrobe.
Baby Dylan Pedroia makes his debut
UPDATE: Now with video! Courtesy of WBZ:
I love rookie hazing.
Kudos (or should it be curses?) to piney for planting the gay sailor tag in my brain. I can never look at Kotts the same way again.
He does look like a gay sailor though…I honestly don’t know the connection but it’s too hilarious for me to even care. And now I will never listen to “In the Navy”-Village People the same way again. (Maybe there was a mixup when picking out outfits and someone thought they were going with a Village People theme?)
@Texy: I can’t look at Kotts the same way again, either. He’s now sailor!Kottaras to me.
the hazing got me thinking if Lester was hazed as well? (most likely not in 2006) i haven’t nor saw a pic of Lester getting hazed even after he came back in 2007.
where are the teletubbies??!?!
Umm. First…thank you for pics. Awesome. Taz…hilarious. I do like how all the characters….the Red Sox put them in drag. The cowardly lion? Of course…in a dress. The Tin Man…of course…dress. Except of course…the umm, gay sailor.
Second…Buch is a rookie. So, how did he get spared???
Absolutely hilarious! You know what the highlight is for me, though? Seeing Pedey holding that baby. Now THAT really makes me smile. I was wondering when little Dylan would show his face…
@shelley1005: Well, Buch sorta kinda is a rookie. But he’s been around the block a few times, and I bet there might have been a “don’t haze Buch” message delivered to whatever ringleader organized this.
I have to admit though, that I find how remarkably uniform the dresses are hilarious. All mostly low-cut, all with ridiculously short skirts. (Does Bardo look a little TOO happy to be wearing that dress?)
And then there’s Sailor!Kottaras. There always seems to be at least one person who gets to skip the dresses each year—or maybe they’re just playing the stereotypical Greek card.
On the whole, though, definitely a step up from last year’s HSM theme. Much better execution.
I think the sole reason Clay didn’t have to dress up is… he wasn’t there. I imagine since he’s tonight’s starting pitcher, he had the day off and/or flew ahead to Baltimore so he could be on a normal rest schedule.
Epic. Purely epic.
I love that all the costumes are short dresses. The silver boots! LMAO.
Bard is having way too much fun.
I love the shot of Pedie with Dylan–way too cute.
Trying to post about the hilarity … having an awful time getting it to work. :(
Gay sailor is the next best thing to being in a dress. :D
Favorite Items of the Post:
1.) The fierce silver leggings Bowden is rocking.
2.) D-Bard camping it up as he parades around in his mini-dress.
3.) Sailor!Kotts
4.) Little Pedroia <3
Also:
I was curious about Lester but a search didn’t provide any viable hits (I’m assuming that, with the ordeal he had endured in the months previous, he was probably excused from the embarrassment … or had to pitch the following day; memory of the schedule fails me). HOWEVER, I did find this gem:
In 2002, Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Beckett was introduced to the timeless ritual of rookie hazing -
“With the days of fungo enemas and dip-spit bukkake sadly over, Beckett was forced to fly on a commercial flight from Florida to Los Angeles in a hula dancer’s grass skirt and coconut bra…”
I doubt there is any public photographic evidence of this but if you can supply it, I will give you a cookie.
(Apologies if this shows up several times … I’m having an awful time posting today).
Here’s my theory on the “gay” sailor…He’s a “friend of Dorothy”. Ta-da…connection made.
You just made my day 100 times better. Hazing=AWESOME
@Becks0823
LMAO BRILLIANT
I could imagine Beckett beat anyone near him with a camera. That is amazingly amazing.
Tazawa !!!!
Oh, Georgie. Oh wow. Is it bad that I think it really suits him? And that he still looks good? And that I really wish they crammed him into a Japanese schoolgirl sailor uniform instead? And no love from you for Dusty’s ill-fitting scarecrow getup and hairy cleavage?
Tazawa is adorable and looks like he’s enjoying it a lot more than I thought he would. Daniel Bard is awesome, and poor Jed looks totally bummed that he has to do it again.
And little Dylan! AWWWWW!
@Becks0823: that’s what i was thinking about Lester. maybe they exempted him.
Omg – that picture if bard with the tongue might need to replace my papelbon 2007 world series iPhone home photo.
@Twinkie: Not gonna lie, I’ve been humming the Sailor Moon theme song every so often when I see Sailor!Kottaras.
Jed looks way too comfortable with this!
Kind of late, but I think Kottaras’ costume is supposed to be a Emerald City guard. Gay sailor, however, is much funnier.
I have been waiting all year for rookie hazing. It is my favorite time of the season. <3
Did you guys read the article from the providence journal? My favorite line from that article is when JBay said he had to wear a Spiderman costume that would fit a small child when he was hazed. I NEED to find a picture of that.