A man is only as good as his word. Ramon Santiago, who played 10 seasons for the Tigers before returning as a member of their coaching staff in 2018, tried to motivate his team by promising to shave his head if they won six in a row, which would be their longest unbeaten streak since July of last year.
After beating the White Sox for their sixth straight win Friday night, players gathered the following morning to watch Santiago say goodbye to what was once a proud head of hair. Closer Gregory Soto did the honors, turning Detroit’s clubhouse into a makeshift barber shop.
Soto seemed pretty adept with clippers in his hand, suggesting this wasn’t the first time he’s taken a razor to someone’s dome. After a boisterous display of buzzing and clipping, this was the final product.
For Santiago, this worked out much better than a similar stunt attempted by former Angels skipper Joe Maddon, who, amid a losing streak, tried to lighten the mood by styling his hair in a mohawk, only to be fired hours later.
The Tigers, who, until recently, had been among the bigger disappointments of the first half, are undoubtedly playing their best baseball of the season. Of course, only time will tell if they’ve turned a corner or if the past week has been an outlier, a mere mirage in an otherwise dreary season of unmet expectations. Regardless of where the Tigers go from here, at least they benefited from a fun team-building exercise, bonding over a bald third base coach.
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