Cleveland Guardians

Terry Francona pulls off an amazing prank on Rays manager Kevin Cash

Published May. 16, 2017 8:36 a.m. ET

Chris Bahr

Terry Francona proved once again on Monday why he is among the most entertaining managers in the majors. And Rays manager Kevin Cash got another personal reminder of that.

Cash was Francona’s bullpen coach in Cleveland for two seasons before taking the Rays’ job, and he also played for Francona in Boston. Understandably, Francona wanted to welcome his buddy to town on Monday. So when the Rays players and coaches took the field for batting practice, this message was prominently displayed on the massive scoreboard at Progressive Field:

https://twitter.com/Indians/status/864213058494898176

Cash, who finished his eight-season major-league career in Boston in 2010 (when Francona still was the Red Sox’s manager), slashed .183/.248/.278 with a 37 OPS+ -- as Francona so casually mentioned.

Francona also got the last laugh on the scoreboard, as the Indians held on for an 8-7 win over the Rays in the opener of the three-game series.

According to Cleveland.com, Francona’s previous trolls on Cash include prank calls to his office, writing on his car windshield with soap and placing a mural of him outside his office.

At this point, Cash can’t do anything but shrug and laugh it off, as the Rays’ Twitter account seemingly admitted:

https://twitter.com/RaysBaseball/status/864222971535265792

For the record, the Indians visit Tropicana Field from Aug. 10-13, so Cash has a few months to plan his revenge.