As you can see from the images above, Brandon Inge has some interesting artwork on his forearms. Are these tattoos? Probably not, if you ask me. If they are, then Brandon Inge may have taken “Tiger4lyfe” to a new level. If you look carefully (and I apologize that the picture is not that clear) the right forearm appears to say, “Tigers.”
If you remember earlier in the year Brandon Inge let a young feller, a hospital patient Inge was visiting, autograph his forearm and promised to hit him a home run. Inge obliged and hit a home run for the kid. For as big of a slump Inge has been in since the All-star break, I completely understand why he might want to go above and beyond the measely autograph that brought him good luck before. One thing is for sure, I don’t think those are covering up any track marks.
Inge is hitting .164 with 3 HR and 9 RBIs since the All-Star break.
UPDATE: A fellow Tigers fan is reporting that they are indeed REAL and they are his kids’ names — Tyler and and Chase. I still don’t know if I believe it. Those are some pretty drastic tattoos to get in a 30 hour time frame.
UPDATE II: Tigers beat writer, Jason Beck, says that he didn’t see anything on Inge’s forearms before the game from what he could tell. Either Inge was wearing sleeves or Beck wasn’t really looking, and why would he?
UPDATE III: One of our trustiest readers, Michael Versaci, has notified me that they were talking about it on the radio yesterday and that they are in fact real tattoos of his children’s names. Wow. Inge must have heard about a pretty good tattoo parlor in the Anaheim area for him to get such HUGE tats in the last 24 hours knowing he had a game to play, too.
UPDATE IV: From another reader and big Tigers fan: If you’re gonna get two big gangsta tattoos, Anaheim is the place to do it!!! 🙂
UPDATE V: Brandon Inge just singled to lead off the 6th inning. He is 1-3 with the new tats. Maybe they’ll work! Pains me to say it, but I think I’m more of a believer in Rasheed Wallace’s line of thinking, though: “sun shines on a dog’s ass every now and then.”
UPDATE VI: Inge made the last out of the 6th inning. Detroit scored 7 runs. Remember, Inge started the inning with a single. Poor guy. 1-4 on the night. 10-0 Tigers, though!
UPDATE VII: MLIVE has posted some quotes from Inge regarding the tattoos:
“This guy does tattoos for a lot of major league players and drew them up for me the last time we were in town,” Inge said. “He said to sit on it and think about it, and I just loved it the more I looked at it. It’s a real unique cursive style.
“My wife loves it, and it’s for my two boys. I’m very happy about it. The stereotype about tattoos drives me nuts, but don’t judge me by this. These are very special to me.”
UPDATE VIII (POST-GAME): Inge finished 1-5 on the day with a run scored. His batting average fell to a modest .238. Detroit won 10-7. A more detailed recap can be found in our forum.
Celebrities and athletes routinely get ink done, from butterfly tattoos to tribal inspired ones.
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