The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is tonight in Kansas City. Eight members of the American League team are from your Texas Rangers (Mike Napoli, Adrian Beltre, Josh Hamilton, Matt Harrison, Joe Nathan, Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler, and Yu Darvish). Three of those players are in the AL’s starting lineup (Napoli, Beltre, Hamilton). One of those players (Beltre) famously hates to have his head touched. Really hates it.
Amy K. Nelson of SB Nation decided to investigate.
No, she doesn’t exactly learn anything insightful about his phobia, but it’s worth noting the difference between former Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson’s technique (“the drive-by”) and Ian Kinsler’s (the “mob”) in getting their hands on Beltre’s noggin. There’s something psychologically significant in their preferences, like when you ask people which superpower they’d prefer: flight or invisibility.
