Buck Showalter Told Reporters That In 2012 The Orioles Had A Talent Show That Included Ryan Flaherty Bringing Monkeys Who Threw Batting Practice

When Buck Showalter was named Mets' manager I told Clem and KFC that everyone around the team would love him and his stories. Buck has a story or anecdote for everything, he's a quote machine. He proved it by telling reporters a story in the dugout before Friday's game. Someone asked him about a cake baking competition he held a few years earlier, and naturally it turned into a story about Ryan Flaherty bringing two monkeys to a camp talent show in 2012. He also said the monkeys threw batting practice. The reporters were howling listening to him tell the story of the chimps tossing BP to each other. He mentioned it was one of the reasons the Orioles held on to Flaherty since he was a Rule-5 pick that year. Buck said he even got a call from the humane society and a fine from the health department because the Orioles had monkeys in the clubhouse. Showalter said that some of the players didn't think they were real monkeys and that it was a "fake little man or something". It truly is an incredible story. 

This is the kind of stuff you get with Buck. And to be honest, when I read the quotes I was like "oh this is Buck being Buck and telling some tale". When I watched the video I became convinced, I think this really happened. I think Ryan Flaherty really did bring some monkeys into the clubhouse for the talent show and they threw BP. I remember a few years back the Orioles did have pictures of a chimpanzee in the clubhouse with Chris Davis....so I'm leaning towards this being true. Now if only we had videos of this. If we're being honest, Spring Training 2012 was maybe the last time we didn't have a constant social media presence. If this happened now a days it would have been live streamed and PETA would have shown up. But back in 2012 Twitter wasn't quite Twitter yet, Instagram wasn't quite Instagram yet. I'd love to see the videos of these cute little monkeys throwing batting practice and probably striking out Chris Davis. One thing about Buck, his stories always land. High success rate.