The A's are officially the Majors' most metal team
The Oakland Athletics: reigning AL West champions, subject of popular books and Brad Pitt movies, wearers of white shoes and elephant sleeve patches, and now, officially, the most metal team in baseball.
Decibel Magazine bestowed the honor upon the team during a recent photo shoot with Oakland relievers/headbangers Travis Blackley, Sean Doolittle and Pat Neshek, as tweeted on Wednesday by CSN Bay Area reporter Casey Pratt:
Looks like the #Athletics have been named the most metal team by @dbmagazine. @travis_blackley spearheaded the effort.
- Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattCSN) February 20, 2013
The metal magazine took photos of Blackley, Doolittle, and Neshek. Blackley brought some band shirts in case they didn't have any handy.
- Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattCSN) February 20, 2013
Ironically, Grant Balfour, possibly the most metal reliever on the team/in MLB, did not participate in the shoot, as he was busy rehabbing his knee. It's a testament to this squad's metalness that they can out-metal all even with their MMP (Most Metal Player) sidelined.
Neshek, for his part, has been known as a metal fan for a while. After the shoot, he tweeted this photo from Decibel back in '08:
@dbmagazine shoot today w/ @whatwoulddoodo & @travis_blackley Here is pic from 08 w Decibel, Man I thought I was cool twitter.com/PatNeshek/stat…
- Pat Neshek (@PatNeshek) February 20, 2013
The photos from the shoot won't be released until April, but I've provided a rough mockup of what they might look like above.
-- Dan Wohl / MLB.com