Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus, who showed off a huge new tattoo of his late father on Twitter Wednesday, was out of the Texas lineup Thursday because of sensitivity in his arm.
Texas manager Ron Washington said Andrus was originally supposed to play but was scratched because of the tattoo on his left arm. Washington said he was glad Andrus decided to get the work done in spring training and not the regular season.
"If that's what it does to you, I don't want him to," Washington said of Andrus getting an in-season tattoo. He was replaced in the lineup by Jurickson Profar in the Rangers' spring-training game against the Cleveland Indians.
Team spokesman John Blake said Andrus would be in the lineup Friday and Saturday before leaving the team to play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.
Andrus' father Emilio Andrus died when Elvis was seven. Andrus honors him in the field before every game by writing his initials in the dirt around second base. He then does the sign of the cross and points to the sky.
If nothing else, Andrus' absence may be a first for the Rangers. It's certainly a first for some spring veterans.
Don Welke, the senior special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels, said he's never heard of anything like it in 47 years of baseball. The same goes for Tony Fernandez, who is in camp helping the team. In his 22 springs, Fernandez said this is a first for him. But he may have seen it coming as Andrus told him Wednesday that his arm was sore from the tattoo.
