Dominican-born third baseman Adrian Beltre led a cadre of Hispanic Seattle Mariners into manager Mike Hargrove’s office Monday. Pitcher Eddie Guardado, whose Mexican-immigrant father was participating in the boycott, served as the spokesman. The players wanted to inform Hargrove that they would not be playing the game in order to honor the boycotts that were ongoing. According to reports, Hargrove’s face became very flush. “Are you serious?” he asked three times. Then he was silent for another fifteen seconds. Hargrove said he was trying to figure out which one of them to strangle.
But then Guardado started laughing. They got him good. The players were interested and perhaps sympathetic to the boycott, but had just played a really good joke on the coach.