Couple of questions regarding the preponderance of players wearing gold chains. Why so many? They seem to look identical. Are they? Why do the players where them outside their uniforms?
I don’t know how the gold chain thing got started, but I do know it was a thing in the early 1980s. Maybe not consistently since then, but it’s not new.
Why I’m so sure is, I’d swear it was in that time that I heard talk of making a rule against pitchers wearing metal of any kind, because light could bounce off it and get in a batter’s eyes. Obviously it was never enacted.
What’s the point of wearing a gaudy gold chain, if it’s not visible? Of course they wear them outside their uniforms.
It wouldn’t really need to be, since umpires can tell pitchers to stow anything they’re wearing that appears to be a distraction. I’ve seen 'em do it.
I remember opposing managers doing it just to get under the pitcher’s skin.
One of the Mariner pitchers had to remove his diamond earring. Garcia, maybe.
ETA: Arthur Rhodes
https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/baseball/article/Rhodes-forced-to-remove-diamond-earrings-blows-1063868.php
I know a few years ago there was a craze amongst baseball players for wearing necklaces containing ‘Titanium Nano Particles’ for … reasons. Something to do with ‘energy flow’, ‘chakra balance’ and ‘bullshit’. I know there have been a few variations of the same theme come and go (in many sports). (‘Hey! Powerband!’ )
I remember John Mayberry Jr of the Phillies wearing one of these and I complained on sports talk radio why he was wearing one, he still sucked.