Via Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer
Max Scherzer has worn several different hats during his honorable, Hall of Fame career.
Since debuting with Arizona in 2009, he became D-Back, a Tigerone Nationone Cunning and now a Meet. Before that, he was the Missouri Tiger, Fort Worth Cat, and Toledo Mud Hen.
But until last week, Max Scherzer had never had the honor of calling himself Binghamton Rumble Pony.
The 37-year-old Mets ace, who has been in the IL since May 18 with an oblique injury, began his second of two recoveries for the Mets’ Double-A link on Wednesday night. Despite being limited to 80 pitches, Scherzer is fit and is expected to return to Queens in the coming days.
Aside from the hilarious combination of a generation hurdler pitching in Double-A park while wearing a “Rumble Ponies” across his chest, Scherzer’s brief tenure as a minor left his mark. actually for his Binghamton teammates.
Whenever a major player shows up in juvenile rehab, the aforementioned player usually buys a pre- or post-match experience. It was one of those gracious gestures that was also an expectation, the baseball team’s version of a wedding gift. Anyone with MLB time of service must have enough cash in reserve to provide young exercisers with improved vision for one evening.
But Wednesday night, after the Rumble Ponies’ 8-3 win in Connecticut over Hartford Yard Goats, Mad Max went above and beyond. According to people close to him, Scherzer, who has made more than $250 million in his career, spent large sums on a dressing-room party that included bone-in beef rolls, filet mignon and lobster. While a typical post-game dinner would be limited to a folding table, the Chateau Scherzer is a three to four table situation. The approximate dollar figure thrown around the clubhouse went up to $7,000.
“They ate well tonight,” Scherzer told the media after the start.
Yeah, no duh.
Scherzer’s two weeks at Binghamton are the Mets ace’s second major story in the minor division in two seasons. Last June, when Jacob deGrom back from one of his bouts of illness, he had a comically dominating two-round start for Low-A St. Lucie Mets against Palm Beach Cardinals. The opposing giants compare that experience with the video game on hard mode.
Though he is ruthless and fierce on the mound, Scherzer is well known in the game as a phenomenal teammate and an excellent clubhouse guy. He has been intimately involved in recent CBA negotiations during the lockdown and is easily one of the more outspoken voices and active participants in the MLBPA.
And with minor league pay and living conditions still being a major issue the league has yet to fully overcome, it’s no surprise that Scherzer was so courteous during his two-headed stint. with Rumble Ponies.
However, he still goes above and beyond.
Two days after his first game against Binghamton, the players entered the dressing room and found an unexpected gift from the colorful barricade.
“He bought everyone AirPods,” a source around the team told FOX Sports. “We walked in and there was a club member who just handed over the AirPods saying they came from the Max.”
In a week, one of the most dominant pitchers of his time will be back on the pitch of a major tournament that will thrill fans left and right. The Mets eagerly await his return. After 11 clear games in the NL East, the club now has only 3.5 games left Atlanta play Friday.
If the Mets are to be what the Mets want to be, they’re going to need a strong Max Scherzer and a full high ground clearance.
When all is done and dusted, and Scherzer is sharing stories and thanks from a wooden platform on a hot summer day in Cooperstown, New York, his time at Binghamton will probably be not mentioned. That would be a small footnote in a wonderfully rich career. But while the Max Scherzer Rumble Pony Era may have been lost to the sands of time, his Secret Santa activities will live forever in the heart of the Greater Rumble Pony Nation.
“I’ve got some nice wireless headphones,” one individual told FOX Sports. “But my dad was using these old wired headphones, so I gave him the AirPods.”
Crazy Max? More like Kind Max, am I right?
Jake Mintz is the older half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and as such, he leads a lonely life most of October. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly pedaling. car. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.
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