The Chicago Cubs have a number of household names on their roster, but chief among them is Kris Bryant. Before he left for spring training, the Las Vegas native was pranked by Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who went to high school in Vegas.
The video above is quite entertaining. Maddux is disguised as the sound guy, following Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant around with such helpful tips as “pick your feet up when you walk” and “try to hit it off the barrel, it’ll sound real good.”
In the “get to know you” portion of the prank, Bryant names some of the other baseball players that have made a name for themselves coming out of Vegas, and mentions Maddux by name, not knowing that he is within just a few feet.
"“He’s a guy that I look up to.” -Bryant on Maddux"
As the sound guy, Maddux comes off as a slacker that is trying to hurry along the whole process so that he can go to lunch, which Bryant seemingly finds charming. He starts taking some swings with the bullpen pitcher, who then gets a call that he has to cover study hall for two hours. The producer says he still needs some tape of Bryant taking BP, and Maddux, still in disguise, forces his way behind the BP fence, despite Bryant’s objections.
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After a couple of warm up tosses, Bryant ropes what would be a single (depending on the defensive alignment of course), and after the next pitch, which Bryant doesn’t swing at, Maddux simply says “strike.”
The two greats banter back-and-forth a bit with Bryant obviously struggling a bit for what he was expecting–which was an easy BP session for a Red Bull commercial. What he got was a Hall of Fame pitcher, and one of the best of his generation, legitimately trying to not give up home runs. As the session progresses, Maddux even starts telling him where the pitches will be just to taunt him.
There are two great lines for my money. The first being “this sound guy has a good curveball.” After asking for Bryant’s bat towards the end of BP, he tells him to make it out to Greg Maddux, and Bryant knows he’s been duped. They do the whole reveal, and at the very end Bryant asks “Do you still want my bat?” to which Maddux simply says “no.”
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This is definitely a fun four minute video that is worth your time.