CLEVELAND -- Some teams have angels in the outfield. The Cleveland Indians have a chicken. A real honest-to-goodness live chicken, and it stood in the outfield during batting practice Wednesday like it belonged, hanging out with a bunch of relief pitchers.
“It was shagging flies,” said one Indians insider with intimate knowledge of the chicken but reluctant to have a name attached to avoid being … well …. burnt.
Evidently one of the Indians employees brought the chicken to the park from an area farm to help play a joke on reliever Cody Allen, whose nickname -- for unspecified reasons -- is “Chicken.”
Now “Chicken” has a chicken.
Pitcher Justin Masterson carried the chicken to the outfield and placed it with Allen’s group. The chicken pecked its way around, barely straying more than a few feet from Allen and his cohorts.
There was no superstition involved, though.
In the movie Major League, about an Indians team that somehow won in spite of the owner's attempts to lose, Pedro Cerrano put a cover on his bat, calling it “hats for bats.”
“Keep bats warm,” Cerrano said.
The chicken was pure prank for a team that appears to be staying carefree as it pursues a wild card spot.
