Now This Is Rookie Hazing I Can Get Behind

"Let's play two, brother."
Photo via Los Angeles Dodger Instagram

Many Major League Baseball teams have a tradition of hazing rookies. The rituals don't involve paddling or any other type of violence that the word "hazing" might conjure, but at times, it can get pretty gross. One of the most popular kinds involves making rookies cross-dress, because haha, dressing up like a woman is funny, har har. Even my hometown Phillies have partaken in that action, and in a season where the team may lose 100 times, that was the most embarrassing thing associated with them. Friend of the Blog Bill Baer wrote about it at Crashburn Alley.

However, as you can see above, the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to take the concept and have fun with it, fun that didn't necessarily poke fun at someone else for dumb reasons. All their rookies dressed up as wrestlers as part of their indoctrination into the Bigs. I can't identify the players, but their wrestler counterparts, from the left, are Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage (or is that Jay Lethal?), Iron Sheik, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Sting, and Rowdy Roddy Piper. That's one heck of a murderer's row right there. Barring a massive collapse on their part and a miracle finish from the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers are likely headed to the playoffs as National League West Champions. Maybe this bit of good karma will help them drop an elbow on the competition.