A late-season game with nothing better to do, so I gave heckling a try with one Texas Rangers outfielder as my target.
Far End of the Bench Podcast by The Not So Morning Show
S2E – I Tried Heckling
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I love everything about the game of baseball, even tried heckling and found it can be comforting when applied effectively by a sore loser.
It was the Texas Rangers at the Angels game, the date escapes me as if they were Anaheim or Los Angeles, they weren’t California. For a deeper story, I would do the research to fill in that blank, but if anyone else enjoys putting the pieces together you are welcome to do it. My seats were right on the right-field foul pole.
The hometown Angels were all but eliminated from the race, it was a warm summer day, and the Rangers took an early comfortable lead. As I watched the game the sparse crowd began clearing on the first base side and behind home plate. With very little crowd noise, and not wanting to sludge along with the traffic trying to leave the park, my foul pole seat was almost within shouting distance of Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz. I had to know if he could hear me.
I began with the “Cruuuuz” chant, shortly adding “Cruuuuz, hey Nelson!” I repeated over and over through the game, without getting a response, but I continued undeterred, “Cruuuz, hey Nelson.”
Finally, in the 6th with the Rangers ahead, my repeated shouts got the right fielder to turn to me smiling. To which I shouted, “Nelson you suck!” Cruz turned his attention back to the game while the remaining Angel fans around me had a good laugh, or I imagined they would have if they had stuck around. I got my heckling in just in time, as the next inning the Rangers made a defensive change and inserted David Murphy into right field, my afternoon riding Nelson Cruz from the stands was over.
My voice was feeling the stress of the contest, by now the park was near empty as was the parking lot, and I was free to leave. But with my remaining energy, I started again on the new Ranger right fielder. “Murphy, hey David!” My voice was not going to go the full nine but surprisingly after a couple of repeated chants, Murphy turned, smiled, and waved in acknowledgment.
“When you get back to the dugout, tell Cruz he sucks!”
Then one more sore loser went home.
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