Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Fluorescent Hat Guy At Indians Games

There's a lot going on with the Indians this week. Cliff Lee had a solid outing throwing (8) shut-out innings on Monday, only to have new closer Kerry Wood blow the game in the (9th). On Tuesday, the Tribe came back, though, and took advantage of a few misplayed bounces by the Bo-Sox to get a win. Then Travis Hafner went to the DL again afterwards. And on Wednesday the Indians knocked Jon Lester all over the park, all the while Fausto Carmona put a solid start of his own together.

Despite all that, the only thing I could focus on last night is this guy.



No not the captain, Jason Variteck, the fluorescent hat guy at Indians games. Seen in the picture above wearing a fluorescent pink ensemble.



And then seen above in the next inning wearing a fluorescent yellow hat, because why...well simply because he changes his hat every inning.



If you don't believe me, watch the next game and see for yourself.

11 comments:

Gary said...

He's been doing this for 15 years. I wonder if anyone in the media has ever interviewed him.

Unknown said...

I hope he has gotten some type of pub for doing this stupid "look at me tactic." I mean if not I think I would have made a move to wearing a cape after 2.

Anonymous said...

Have you watched an Indians game in the past 15 years??? my god he has been doing this for years, and you just now notice this? why even bother to have a blog since you dont even watch cleveland sports on the television at all in the past decade.

Shaver Sports said...

Anonymous: Listen pal...obviously I have been watching this guy for a while. However, have you ever read anything, anywhere, about him? He is like the guy everybody sees, and knows is there, yet no one talks about him. If he is so popular...Anonymous...what's his name then? Is it John Adams the drummer at every Tribe game. How about, John Big Dawg Thompson barking from the Dawg Pound next to Big Dawg Mike everygame? Or maybe you, nor anybody else, knows his name, because nobody every talks about him. Or has interviewed him - good point Gary.

Anonymous said...

he is in the 2003 season recap about the tribe, its a book that was released in December, it has a whole page on him, he's been there since the 96 season, his name is Jim Whales. Thanks for proving my point though, that you do not even watch/read about the tribe in the past decade, but hey you run a good blog...lol

Nick said...

Is this really the first time you noticed the fluorescent hat wearer? Haha, welcome to Indians baseball and Progressive (formerly Jacobs) Field. This has been going on for 10+ years. What's next...an article about a young up and coming flamethrower named Jaret Wright??

Chris H. said...

I know of at least one television station that profiled him during their newscasts during the 1997 playoff run.

I would know because I worked there at the time.

He's been around forever ... I would guess people touched on him in the late 90's ... and haven't really returned to it much.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Vince from Cleveland Scene here. I did a story on him back when I was writing for Uni Watch. Here's the link.

http://www.uniwatchblog.com/2007/10/12/man-of-many-many-hats/

One thing I found out after the story is that Tom (that's the dude's name) has a different hat for the 10th and 11th, but if the game goes to 12, he starts back with the first hat again.

Cleveland Frowns said...

F the haters. Nice post, Shaver. Not everyone knew about this obscure bit of Tribeness.

Deja, how do you know his "look at me tactics" are stupid? What if he's doing it for his grandkids or something? That would be sweet.

Steve said...

Wow, Tom has been doing the hat trick since Jacobs field has opened and you just now notice it? makes me kind of wonder what type of fan you are, certainly you would have caught it in the 1997 season which im sure you watched in october, but havent tuned in since. Hey did you hear that the Tribe is considering trading Bartolo Colon for a bunch of minor league prospects? what do you think about his rumor? geez...whats next shaver?

Anonymous said...

Steve hahahahha exactly.