After earning the win in Wednesday’s 6-4 come-from-behind victory over the Texas Rangers, Red Sox reliever Brennan Bernardino walked into the clubhouse to find a prize in his locker: A large pair of golden testicles on a chain.
The pendant, which looks like the ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember’ version of what some drivers attach to their vehicle’s rear bumper or trailer hitch, is the team’s new Pitcher of the Game award.
“This is the new pitcher’s belt. Pitcher of the Game gets the golden … yeah,” Bernardino told the Herald with a chuckle. “It’s an honor to have it for the day.”
Veteran reliever Liam Hendriks and rookie infielder Kristian Campbell credited Alex Bregman and Walker Buehler with introducing the concept for the award, and the accompanying Player of the Game for position players. As for the prize itself, Hendriks said he thought Buehler picked it out. Right-hander Lucas Giolito told the Herald it was “definitely” Buehler, before amending that he was “95% sure.” (Buehler laughed, but declined to comment.)
The practice isn’t uncommon in MLB clubhouses, and several Red Sox players said they find it beneficial, both individually and collectively.
“I think every team that I’ve been on that had some sort of success generally had some sort of talisman to reward good games,” said Hendriks. “I tried implementing it last year, but the belt didn’t quite stick because we didn’t strike out enough. This year (they) came in and was like, ‘Look, we need something like, Hero of the Game.’ just kind of team-building, camaraderie sort of stuff.”
“I think it’s good, you know, we talk about it as a team,” agreed Campbell. “Obviously, you let the guy know that he had a really good game, and just after the game, coming together as a team for a minute to talk about how everybody did, it’s a good way to bond.”
“I’ve been on teams where there’s a similar thing, you shout out a Player of the Game and might have a little trinket or something,” said Giolito. “I think it’s just a fun way to keep everyone engaged.”
Giolito, who missed his entire first season with the club due to elbow surgery during spring training last year, revealed that the prize motivated him during his long-awaited Red Sox debut last week.
“It actually popped into my mind during my first outing,” the veteran righty said. “It was probably the second, third inning, I was feeling pretty good, it was like, ‘Sick, if I keep this going, throw like six, seven strong, then I’ll walk away with the Golden Nuts after my first game back.”
Unlike last year’s wrestling-style prize, which could only be earned by striking out the side, Pitcher and Player of the Game are decided on a case-by-case basis; the winner chooses his successor. The position players don’t have a physical object to pass around, though.
“I had a good game, and I’m honored to have it hanging here,” said Bernardino. “Tonight, I’m gonna pick somebody.”
“We (award) literally the same time as them, but we don’t have a prop or anything, we just talk about what the player did that game,” explained Campbell, who’s already earned several Player of the Game honors in his rookie season. “Or yesterday, two: (Wilyer Abreu) and Bregman both had a really big day.”
“They need to figure something out,” said Giolito. “The Wally home-run celebration, that thing’s pretty funny, though. … But I’d say the golden (testicles) chain is the most creative I’ve seen or been a part of. I look forward to getting it at some point.”
The Red Sox don’t put on any kind of big ceremony, but Hendriks has played on teams that feted with more pomp and circumstance, and said this is “not even close” to the craziest practice he knows of. One year during his stint in Chicago, the White Sox bullpen had a Lego of Marvel’s Thanos Gauntlet which had been glued so as to keep the middle finger up permanently. The next year, they had the life-size Lego of Thor’s hammer.
The ‘14 Kansas City Royals conducted a ceremony that included music, a custom light show, and a makeshift fountain.
“There’s several I can’t say, but in Kansas City in 2014, we had this neon light of a deer and the player would stand in front,” Hendriks said. “We’d have Jeremy Guthrie on the table playing ‘Thunderstruck’ and clapping along and singing. The entire clubhouse would do it, with strobe lights and everything, and then there was someone underneath just squeezing a bottle of water straight up into this person’s face. And if they either didn’t like you or really liked you, there was some sort of baby powder usually involved as well.”
The Red Sox talked about other options, including one of the ‘K’ signs the Boston K Men put up in the Fenway stands to track Sox pitchers’ strikeouts. Hendriks, who hails from Australia, joked that he would’ve opted for something from his home country.
“I would have made it a kangaroo scrotum,” he said. “They (make them into) bottle openers and little purses you can throw your coins in.”
Even though the prize the Red Sox ended up with isn’t necessarily family-friendly, the meaning behind it makes sense: it’s about giving the game everything you have.
“Generally, the thing is, you want to like, pull ‘em out and leave it all out there on the field, all that kind of stuff,” Giolito explained.
“As pitchers, it’s fitting,” echoed Hendriks. “You’ve got to have some balls to be out there in certain situations.”
There’s only one prerequisite: no Pitcher of the Game or Player of the Game after a loss. If they don’t win together, they don’t win at all.
“Winning games is the most important thing,” Giolito said. “If we win, we get to have all the fun in the world. If we lose, it’s like, ‘Alright, let’s move on.’”