Pranking Frenchy
Posted in News on 24. Apr, 2014
Jeff Francouer isn’t the first player to fall for the teammate-who-pretends-to-be-deaf prank – but now, he’s the most famous.
The longtime Major League Baseball veteran, trying to catch on with the Padres via their AAA-affiliate El Paso Chihuahuas, was the trusting victim in an elaborate 3-week prank documented in the viral video, “On Jeff Ears.”
In one week, the film had over a million views on YouTube.
Infielder Cody Decker was the documentarian behind-the-camera but those familiar with Decker’s manager knew right away this had all the makings of a Pat Murphy Production.
“It was a team thing,” said Murphy.
“Cody is a talented dude. He turned it into something extra. It was something we do within the team. It worked especially when you’re spoofing the biggest celebrity on the team; he spent a lot of years in the big leagues.”
In the hoax, Francouer was told his teammate Jorge Reyes was hearing-impaired. The catch? Reyes is not deaf. Not even slightly.
“The catcher, Adam Moore, would go to the mound and talk to Jorge. ‘Frenchy’ (Francouer’s nickname) would be in the outfield — he’d ask us how Adam talks to him. We’d say with a straight face, ‘You just mouth the words to him.’
“It’s the same prank we do every year. You have to set it up right. You got to have a pitcher is the one who’s deaf; it wouldn’t work with the other way.”
In Murphy’s first year in pro ball, Eugene’s Mykal Stokes was on the receiving end. Greg Gonzalez played the pretend-deaf role. There were a few times the ruse was almost up.
“One guy was wearing a headset. He stuck his head in my office and said,
What’s with his headset?’ Murphy quickly improvised, ‘Those are headsets for the deaf. He can hear vibrations.’”
After pulling a variation of the joke with each of his teams, this year’s version (thanks to the Decker video) hit the big time.
ICYMI: Former major league outfielder Jeff Francoeur was the victim of a month-long prank that somehow eluded him. http://t.co/Pvea0zZVBb
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) April 15, 2014
Video: Jeff Francoeur pranked by teammates for one month http://t.co/KUh8tMgnEh
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 14, 2014
"How can somebody be this stupid?" Jeff Francoeur's teammates pulled a month-long prank on him: http://t.co/wz8poBU6Av
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) April 14, 2014
Could possibly be one of best baseball pranks of all time involving Jeff Francoeur orchestrated by my man @Decker6 http://t.co/J1MCTG7Fn6
— Eric James Byrnes (@byrnes22) April 13, 2014
My new favorite person, Cody Decker http://t.co/pAYmLL6Jgt #padres #mlb
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) April 14, 2014
Murphy is sensitive to the fact maybe not everyone is laughing.
“We’ve taken a little bit of heat with not being politically correct. We don’t make fun of the deaf. We just play up the naivete of people,” said Murphy, who self-admittedly isn’t above some juvenile hijinks to keep spirits up.
“This profession is such a grind, especially PCL travel. We traveled this morning. Got in at 1 AM. We play tonight. The grind is so great, you gotta keep it light for them.”
Murphy says Francouer took his new-found infamy “like a pro” and the prank is officially retired.
“Now that we’ve made it a national thing; we’ll never have to do it again. Now everybody knows.”