Darin Ruf is next player to be transformed into garden gnome

The eternal bond between baseball and garden gnomes is well documented. History tells us that ancient gnomes were the first to play the game with twigs and acorns; their jubilant, spritely cries of a waddle-off win notorious for echoing through the forests of Earth Before Man.

And that is why we have giveaways constantly in the form of players as garden gnomes, to harken back to that time when it truly was nothing more than a game. Ryan Howard has been one. And now, the gnome has been passed.

Now, you too may place a small, stubby version of Darin Ruf in your garden, in hopes that there will one day be infectious giggling among your petunias.