Impostor crashes Braves reunion party
It takes some serious baseballs to pull off what some superfan got away with during the Atlanta Braves' annual alumni reunion. According to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the fan received an invitation intended for former bullpen coach John Sullivan to last weekend's reunion, and decided to play the part. This guy attended functions as Sullivan, signed autographs as Sullivan and wore Sullivan's No. 8 in the alumni softball game.
It takes some serious baseballs to pull off what some superfan got away with during the Atlanta Braves' annual alumni reunion.
According to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the fan received an invitation intended for former bullpen coach John Sullivan to last weekend's reunion, and decided to play the part. This guy attended functions as Sullivan, signed autographs as Sullivan and wore Sullivan's No. 8 in the alumni softball game.
Even better, he got the Braves to fly him to Atlanta, feasted on comped meals and stayed at a posh hotel — on the Braves' dime. Crazy thing is he almost got away with it — if not for the keen memory of longtime Braves skipper Bobby Cox.
"I knew he wasn't coming," said Cox of the real Sullivan. Baffled by the random dude, Cox asked team liaison Greg McMichael to provide insight. When McMichael told him it was Sullivan, Cox replied, "That's not John Sullivan. I think you've been had."
Another moment that brought the impostor under scrutiny was his lackluster performance in the softball game. It was so bad, former pitcher Andy Ashby told him, "Dude, you've really gone downhill fast."
"We figured he must've had some health problems," joked ex-Braves reliever Jose Alvarez.
It wasn't a total loss. The Braves haven't filed any charges and the lucky impostor disappeared with the private cell numbers of quite a few past and present Braves, according to Alvarez.
The real John Sullivan, informed of the hoax, actually found it quite clever. "That's pretty funny," he said. "My wife will get a kick out of that."
"You've got to hand it to him," ex-reliever Craig Skok said. "He almost pulled it off."
Good timing
The owner of Secretariat and the president of the Maryland Jockey Club have implored the Maryland Racing Commission to look at "compelling evidence" that suggests the horse came in 2.4 seconds faster than the winning time recorded in the 1973 Preakness Stakes.
Had Secretariat's time been officially recorded as 1:53.4, he would have beaten Canonero II's all-time record of 1:54 set during the 1971 Preakness.