Zack Greinke and Shawn Marcum may have been the more heralded of all the Brewers’ offseason acquisitions. But few are nearly as entertaining as the one and only Nyjer Morgan.
Few players’ post-game interviews are must-see TV but as you can see above, Morgan is always entertaining and always awesome.
Morgan already has one well-documented alter-ego, a fellow named Tony Plush who he says is his on-field, gentleman persona. Last night, he unveiled another alter-ego on an unsuspecting populace, Tony Gumble. Morgan..er..Plush…er…Gumble described himself as being “real real real professional.”
Talking with FSWisconsin about his fifth inning three-run double that broke open the game off of Chris Carpenter, Morgan said he saw the pitch up and just “tickled it into the outfield” using his “Plushdamentals.” He then ends the interview after about a minute and a half by making a crow-like noise and saying “gotta go!”. And then he does. Because he’s Nyjer Morgan.
It’s hard to make heads from tails of that interview. It’s also hard to figure out how Tony Gumble is any different than Tony Plush, both of whom Morgan has described as having gentlemanly traits. Whoever he is, Morgan is a breath of fresh air when it comes to professional athletes these days. He is a true original, a guy who doesn’t know and quite frankly doesn’t seem to really care about what people think of him. His Twitter feed (@therealTPlush) is just as off the wall and entertaining as his post-game interviews. He’s taken a fan’s suggestion to go fly a kite and doesn’t bother filtering his thoughts, something that has endeared him to both his teammates and the city of Milwaukee.
As long as he keeps putting up the kind of numbers that he has (.324 BA, .353 OBP, 12 2B) and playing a highlight-reel worthy defensive centerfield, it won’t matter if he’s got one personality or fifty personalities, Brewers’ management will be content to let the man be as weird as he wants to be. And that’s alright by us.
