Everyone knows Mike Trout the baseball player. But what about his personal side? Here's 10 things you may not know about the Angels' slugger:
Quarters are kind of his thing
No, not the drinking game.
“We went out to dinner one night, just a bunch of us from the team and I had to pick somebody to pay for it so I picked Jered (Weaver),” Trout said. “He paid me all in quarters.”
Don’t expect Trout to pull any pranks right away. At just 21-years-old with only a year of service time in the major leagues, he knows his role in the clubhouse.
“I haven’t really pranked anybody since I’m young and I’ve got to do my time,” Trout said.
His childhood nickname was “Headquarters"
What Weaver didn’t know was that he was actually playing off of Trout’s childhood nickname: Headquarters.
“They said I had a big head,” Trout said.
The nickname is no longer in use. His friends now just call him by his given name or “Trouty” because, “They know better than that now.”
He swings a club like he swings a bat
“If I was a professional athlete in another sport it would have to be golf,” Trout said.
When Trout isn’t playing baseball, he hits the links as much as possible. And he’s not bad, playing to a low index when able to play almost daily in the offseason.
“I try, and when I play every day I’m probably like a seven or eight, maybe a nine handicap,” Trout said. “If I don’t play every day then I’m a little shaky.”
Augusta is the dream
A fan of the Scottsdale-area golf courses, Trout said Troon North Golf Club and TPC Scottsdale, the site of the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open, are the favorites of the courses he has played, but there is one in particular championship course that he would like to play at: Augusta National, the site of The Masters this week.
“I would definitely love to try and play Augusta if I could ever get on that thing,” Trout said. “Other than that, I would say Pebble Beach. I want to play on that course.”
He sings in the shower
Trout prefers to keep his karaoke in the shower and country is his go-to favorite. With his headphones never far away, country music is also his soundtrack when he's on the way to the field, and before a game it’s hip hop and R&B.
Adam Sandler would play him in a movie
Trout may come off as all business on the field, but with his friends he’s the comedian. So much so, that he said that if a movie were to be made about his life, he would chose Sandler to portray him.
“If you talk to any of my buddies, I’m a big Adam Sandler guy,” Trout said. “I don’t know if I’m funnier than him but maybe sometimes. It would be a pretty good movie.”
Bigger is better
When Trout made his major league debut, he was in awe when walking out to the field and seeing the size of the crowd for the first time.
“The different atmosphere in each park gets you a crazy adrenaline rush that people don’t see,” he said. “Playing in a bigger stadium, I don’t think it scared me but just being anxious to play. going from a two-deck stadium in the minor leagues to four-decks in the big leagues, with 30,000 more fans it’s a big jump.”
He enjoys playing in the Motor City
While he remains loyal to Angel Stadium, he does have a favorite place to play other than the Big A.
“My favorite, besides Anaheim, I like Detroit,” Trout said. “Just the way the field is, I like how it’s set up.”
A close second is Yankee Stadium.
He eats fresh
In order to stay healthy on the road, Trout relies on Subway. Trout’s order includes two sandwiches, Italian on white and chicken teriyaki on herb and cheese bread.
He has no hidden talent
It’s no secret that Trout can crush a fastball, he’s a thief on the basepaths and makes highlight-reel catches in the outfield. But don’t ask Trout for a party trick.
I don’t think I really have any,” Trout said. “Nothing that anybody wouldn’t already know.”
Tough to argue why he would even need one: Trout’s not-so-hidden talents landed him an All-Star selection, an American League Rookie of the Year Award and a contract extension all by the age of 21.
