Brian Williams and Baseball’s Biggest Liars

Because minor league baseball teams like to hop on current events and then have them pay off well after the story has gone ice cold…the Akron RubberDucks are hoping to take advantage of the epic storytelling of one Brian Williams.

The Cleveland Indians Double-A affiliate are holding “Brian Williams’ Pants-on-Fire Night”.

“Monday, April 27 is national ‘Tell a Story Day’ and we could not think of a better storyteller,” RubberDucks General Manager Jim Pfander said. “We thought this would be a fun, tongue-in-cheek night for our fans.”

According to the team, the evening will feature a slew of what they hope will be fun activities. Including…free suspenders for the first 100 fans, chances for fans to audition to be the next anchor of “NBC Nightly News” and, naturally, any fan in attendance named Brian Williams will have a chance to throw out the ceremonial first pitch

Ugh.

But it’s not like baseball is immune to liars. Matter of fact, one could argue that as long as someone has been putting bat to ball…players have been lying and cheating.

Here are five of the biggest bs’ers* of recent memory.

TIM JOHNSON

After the Toronto Blue Jays dismissed manager Cito Gaston following a dismal 1997 campaign, they found a suitable replacement in longtime minor league skipper Tim Johnson. Johnson had spent the 20 years prior in a variety of gigs in and around baseball and, once the team’s manager, used his old Vietnam stories as motivation for his players.

One problem, the former big leaguer infielder never served in ‘Nam…much less anywhere else. Johnson also claimed he was an All-American high school basketball player and once turned down a scholarship to attend UCLA. Add all that together and you get a huge distraction.

The Jays set their truthbending manager packing prior to the 1999 season.

JEFF KENT

Just prior to Spring Training 2002, Jeff Kent was sidelined with a broken wrist. The 2000 National League MVP claimed he was washing his truck, slipped and fractured his left wrist. Simple enough, right? Wrong.

Unfortunately for Kent, a 9-1-1 call was made around the same time of the alleged truck fall and detailed in that call…a motorcycle accident involving you know who. Kent would later admit to the lie.

So, why was it a big deal that Kent hurt himself while motorcycling versus washing his truck as he claimed? Well, at the time, the second baseman had, as part of his contract with the San Francisco Giants a clause that forbade him from riding his motorcycle. If the team could prove he was hurt in a bike accident, they would have the right to void his 2002 contract…worth $6 million

The Giants ended up keeping the guy around, but the injury didn’t seem to hurt his season. Kent went on to hit .313 with 37 home runs and 108 RBI.

AL MARTIN

Remember Al Martin? Sure you do. The speedy former outfielder played eleven years in the big leagues for four different teams. He’d also like you to remember that he was a strong safety for the University of Southern California.

In 2001, Martin compared a collision with then-Seattle teammate Carlos Guillen to a time, in 1986, when he tried to bring down tackle Michigan running back Leroy Hoard. But you guessed it…Martin never played for USC. And to make matters worth, the Trojans and Wolverines did not play against each other season.

Near the end of his career, Martin would also find himself married to two woman. Ouch.

MIGUEL TEJADA

In 1999, a 23-year-old Miguel Tejada was putting up power numbers rivaling those of fellow slugging shortstop Alex Rodriguez. Three seasons later, the young star was voted American League MVP after hitting 34 home runs, knocking in 131 runs and batting .308.

On April 17, 2008, during an interview with ESPN, Tejada was presented with a Dominican birth certificate that listed his date of birth as 1974, not 1976 as he had been claiming.  Meaning, for more than a decade the six-time All-Star had been lying about his true age.

DAVID WELLS

Following David Wells’ perfect game in 1998, the former New York Yankees lefty made headlines by claiming in his book that he was “half-drunk” during his career-defining moment versus the Minnesota Twins.

It didn’t take long for the burly ballplayer to correct himself and say he was misquoted…in his autobiography. Turns out, he was simply hungover…courtesy of a wild night at a “Saturday Night Live” cast party.

Maybe.

*-Purposely omitted…anything pertaining to Pete Rose and steroids. We’ve all heard those stories before.