This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell's Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Guardians manager Terry Francona was about to address his team on Thursday morning when president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti popped his head into the clubhouse and asked Francona to chat in private for a minute.
“I thought there was a death in the family because they never do that,” Francona said.
What he didn’t realize was that Antonetti was a decoy.
The two chatted for just long enough to keep Francona out of the clubhouse while his fellow coaches, clubhouse staff, PR team and others changed shirts, revealing a t-shirt that read, “American League’s Most Handsome Manager,” with Francona’s picture in the middle.
“I knew that [stuff] was gonna backfire on me,” Francona said. “I am speechless because … how would you feel? Not good.”
If you didn’t hear the uproar this news caused in January, here’s a refresher.
Gambling.com used an app to rank MLB’s 30 managers by their looks. A press release was sent out to many members of baseball media, announcing that Francona had taken home the title of the American League’s most handsome manager with a score of 7.96 out of 10.
With both leagues combined, Francona placed fifth, behind Buck Showalter (No. 1), Rob Thomson (No. 2), Torey Lovullo (No. 3) and David Ross (No. 4).
What usually would be a harmless, overlooked email from artificial intelligence software became Francona’s worst nightmare.
He woke up on the morning of Jan. 12 to dozens of messages. He was confused, thinking people were reaching out to the wrong person until he realized what was bestowed upon him. And those who work closest to him aren’t letting him forget it.
“I’m just finding out how much I’ve aggravated people over the years,” Francona said, laughing.
When the Guardians announced their Progressive Field renovation plans in January, Antonetti couldn’t stop laughing about the rankings. He said he had been texting Francona, joking with him about the strange honor. So, when the 50 shirts magically appeared on Thursday, mocking Francona’s new title, only one name came to his mind.
“I think this has Chris’ fingerprints on it,” Francona said. “We’ll see.”
Francona refused to take part in the shenanigans, but he did feel the material of the shirt and was annoyed that such an obnoxious phrase would be printed on a shirt of such quality -- an item he wished he could wear.
“That’s the first time I don’t want a free shirt,” he joked.
Francona sat in the media room at Cleveland’s Spring Training complex, shaking his head with a smirk on his face, realizing that the title would never escape him. A few moments later, his former player Jason Kipnis strolled into the room.
Francona was ecstatic to say hello, but it didn’t take long before the shirts became the main focus. Kipnis spotted a handful of people wearing them and asked his former skipper what was going on.
Someone else chimed in to explain the situation and Francona announced it was time for him to leave the room in a comical, yet disgusted tone.
“Don’t shake your head,” Kipnis said. “You put in the order.”
The room erupted in laughter and Francona had yet another person taking full advantage of the opportunity to roast him.