A word to the wise: Don’t clown with Michael Young.
The retired infielder and seven-time All-Star was inducted into the Texas Rangers’ Hall of Fame on Sunday, and the ceremonies went off without a hitch — well, expect for that moment Young nearly punched Elvis Andrus in the face.
Don’t worry, we can explain. See, Young is deathly afraid of clowns, and Andrus, the team’s resident prankster, decided to troll him by wearing the clown mask donned by Jigsaw in the “Saw” movie franchise.
But when Young caught a glimpse of Andrus’ scary mask, he came *this* close to delivering a swing.
Fortunately, Young was a good sport about the whole thing after the fact — he evened explained his rationale for hating clowns — but it appears he was deadly serious about knocking out Andrus at the time.
The Rangers managed to hold it together despite the pregame scare, as Mitch Moreland hit a pinch-hit, walk-off homer in the ninth inning to give Texas a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Thumbnail photo via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images