Gomes says they got Norris with a trifecta shower: shaving cream, water and Gatorade. #Athletics
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) June 24, 2012
Just over 24 hours after being called up to make his Major League debut, A’s rookie catcher, Derek Norris, rocked both sides of the Battle of The Bay with a massive 3 run walkoff home run with 2 outs in a full count. Out of breath from sprinting the bases and being tossed around like a banana in a blender by his teammates at home plate, who even managed to derobe the rookie, Norris quickly was ushered to do a post game interview with the A’s broadcast booth.
Ready for a second question, Norris got lit up in epic fashion by his teammates as you see below.
Commonplace in MLB post game interviews, this has to be a new territory as you see what looks to be a shaving cream pie, orange Gatorade, as well as water finding its way to the smiling mug of Norris all within about a second. Typically surprising a player with a pie, or just one cooler of liquid is hard enough. How three teammates managed to close in with such stealth and coordinate a precisely timed strike in an open field is something that warrants its own Warren Commission type investigation.
Quite a memorable 2nd day on the job regardless of the hazing. Norris should also get some credit for calling a good game for fellow newbie AJ Griffin who was starting his first game in the majors.
The walkoff closed out a memorable 3 game series between the neighboring rivals. The Giants had a 9th inning comeback on Friday night, the A’s surrendered an early lead but almost closed a 5 run gap in the 9th yesterday, and today’s game ended in memorable fashion as well.
While the debuts of Norris and Griffin were impressive, we’ll be back tomorrow with a look at an appearance in the broadcast booth by Eric Byrnes as a color commentator for FOX.