Rangers Chris Davis Turns To “Magic Thong” To Bust Out Of Season-Long Slump

Posted on June 2nd, 2009 6:40pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Player Profile, Texas Rangers

NEW YORK – One thing you notice about Chris Davis today is that he’s done some styling and, um, grooving. If he takes his hat off, he’ll be displaying the Mohawk he shaved into his head. And any picture of him at first base will make him very much resemble any of the Village People.

Those are easy to spot.

We go further.

Davis is wearing a thong. Or at least he said he would be. A red one.

Davis had a 45 minute talk over the weekend with an A’s slugger he would not name, but he came away with a new perspective on hitting and a new slump-busting trick. By the way, Oakland’s Jason Giambi, when he was with the New York Yankees, turned to a gold thong and a bushy mustache to break out of a slump last year. Several other Yankees admitted to trying the “The Magic Thong.”

“There was actually no mention of a thong during my conversation,” Davis said. “Was my decision to go this way inspired by it? Maybe.”

The conversation centered on baseball and how to break out of a long slump.

“He was just reinforcing some things about his approach and how to stay focused when he’s struggling,” Davis said. “He told me whether I believe it or not, the guys in this clubhouse, the guys in other clubhouse and the guys all around the league know I’m a big leaguer and I belong. He told me he loved the way I played baseball. It was just good to hear.

“He said it’s a learning opportunity and that I’ll be so much better for going through it. And I didn’t really have much failure in the minors. So this will give me something of a foundation or a base to fall back on when I have a slump in the future and it will hopefully help me get out of things more quickly.”

Davis entered Tuesday’s game hitting just .194 and with 77 strikeouts. He didn’t play in the final two games of the Oakland series after going 0-for-7 with six strikeouts in a doubleheader on Friday.

One thing you have to say about how Davis has dealt with the season-long slump: He hasn’t lost his sense of humor.

“There is no point in beating myself up over it,” Davis said. “I’ve been mad and frustrated, but I need to learn from this.”

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7 Comments to “Rangers Chris Davis Turns To “Magic Thong” To Bust Out Of Season-Long Slump”
  • Greg @ June 2nd, 2009 at 6:58 pm

    He’s got to go down to OKC or Frisco and get his head right.

    If Hamilton does end up needing surgery and goes on the 60 day DL would it be completely insane to bring Smoak up? Then you can worry about the 40 man situation once Josh comes back.

  • David in Cleburne @ June 2nd, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    This is so Bull Durham.

  • NTC-Brendan @ June 2nd, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    Is CD married? If not I think a Mark Grace Slumpbuster is in order. I am sure you can find some suitable butterhogs in the greater NYC area.

  • The Beer Guy @ June 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 pm

    This is extremely disturbing. I’ll never look at Davis the same way again. I may never look at him again period!

  • Longhorn Matt @ June 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    Since Rudy seems to think that Chris’s problem is mostly mental, if wearing a thong is what it takes to get Chris’s head right, then so be it.

  • Dave H @ June 3rd, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    Greg. Smoak was just placed on the DL. I think they plan to let him play out the rest of this season between Frisco and OKC. As for Davis, I’m completely torn. He has been perhaps the unsung hero of our infield defense. With the idea that seems to be in place that the Rangers won’t bring up Smoak this season, I just think we lose too much defensively to send Davis down.

  • Ruffian @ June 4th, 2009 at 1:26 pm

    “The rose goes in the front, big fella…”