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Mexico City welcomes Padres and SF Giants with... unsettling statues

Statues of SF Giants players popped up all around Mexico City, and they may be the funniest things you'll see this week.

Marc Delucchi

Mexico City welcomes Padres and SF Giants with... unsettling statues
Mexico City welcomes Padres and SF Giants with... unsettling statues /
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As the SF Giants gear up for their two-game series at altitude against the San Diego Padres in Mexico City, Mexico, promoters for the event have done several things around the city to draw attention to the games. Mexico's reportedly has an "unprecedented appetite for baseball" after a deep run at the World Baseball Classic, making this Giants/Padres matchup even more important to baseball advocates in the country. So, as a part of their promotions, someone decided to put some temporary statues up around the city of various players on the Giants and Padres. The statues are... interesting.

NBC Sports Bay Area's Alex Pavlovic posted photographs of the statues of Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, closer Camilo Doval, left fielder Mitch Haniger, and second baseman Thairo Estrada. Imagine a Fathead, a bobblehead, and a cabbage patch doll all rolled into one design. That's what each of these objects looks like. By the way, some of them do not have fingers on their hands as well.

The bulbous heads, and consequential lack of neck, spark a particularly uneasy reaction. But the fact that none of the designs actually look like the player they are purported to be representing takes these art pieces from just a series of peculiar design choices to one of the funniest things I have seen all week.

Pavlovic was not the only person to find these masterpieces throughout the city. One fan found a statue supposedly of outfielder Michael Conforto that looks a lot more like catcher Joey Bart. But who am I to argue with the artist and their vision?

Andrew Baggarly, the Giants beat writer for The Athletic, also captured an image of infielder Wilmer Flores. Perhaps it is just the lighting in Baggarly's image, but Flores' eyes in his statue have a particularly dead look to them. He appears to be waving to the crowd but looks like "The Manchurian Candidate" who has just seen the queen of diamonds.

For what it's worth, this SF Giants house of horrors was not only reserved for them. In fact, there's a case to be made that no one got done dirtier than Padres slugger Juan Soto, who looks like an elderly elf wizard preparing to embark on a quest.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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