Dedicated to the Player, Not the Game

Fantasy baseball players are comfortable with the idea. We often root for a player above all else – we need those statistics, even if it means that Nick Swisher hits a home run against our beloved Sawx. But this, this group of “McCann’s Cans,” this is a horse of a different tune. This looks a little bit… crazy. Maybe something’s in the water in Atlanta, because Gary Sheffield also got the fanatic treatment.

It’s not all Atlanta’s ‘fault,’ though. Check out this lovely section dedicated to Kevin Maas, called the “Maas-tops,” highlighted in this descriptive quote from Wikipedia.

“Like Mattingly, Maas was a left-handed batter. As a result many of his home runs went into the right field stands. About halfway through the season a group of a dozen or so young ladies began wearing “Maas-tops” to Yankees home games and sitting in the right field stands. Whenever Maas hit a home run to right, the girls would get up, remove their tops and jump up and down until Maas finished circling the bases. However after a few home runs the women were banned from entering Yankee Stadium.”

Ah, stupid Yankee Stadium security guards. If only there were photographic evidence of this group. Then again, this sort of player-based fandom could actually be coming from Atlanta. Here is probably the high-water mark, the moment when wave broke and returned home to wash the makeup off.

Did Kenshin Kawakami know this group even existed? Not quite “Frenchy’s Franks,” was it? I suppose this next one counts, although they never adopted a clever moniker.

All this next group needed was a little shoe polish. Instant fun!

Who could forget the ConeHeads? All sorts of fun. Let’s humbly suggest some more fangroups, in case someone out there enjoys getting dressed up, shall we? Apologies up front, but I’ll try to get this started: Adrian Beltre‘s Bell-Trees? Eh, what is a Bell Tree anyway. Robinson Cano’s Canoes? Might be a tough costume. Shin-Soo Choo’s Choo-Choos? That’s a winner.

Photo H/Ts: McCann’s Cans Facebook Page, Atlanta Journal and Constitution (Sheffield), Talking Chop (Kawakami), Polar Bear News (Pandas), The700Level (Fasano).