Jonathan Papelbon's $299 Toy Quadricopter
We all that know Jonathan Papelbon marches to the beat of a different drum. Which may not be a drum at all… just the sound of his own two feet stomping on the ground in rapid succession to an Irish jig.
Whatever the case, he’s weird.
In today’s Inquirer, Phillies beat writer Matt Gelb penned a rather lengthy profile on the reliever, which we highly recommend reading. Papelbon – rather, Cinco Ocho – is nuts, and there's plenty of evidence which demonstrates that. But we like this bit of tid:
It was raining outside on a recent weekday, so the Phillies pitchers played with their new toys. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Chad Qualls flew tiny remote-controlled airplanes through the clubhouse. Jonathan Papelbon sat at his locker and quietly watched. Then he opened a massive box that contained something called the AR.Drone, a flying quadricopter that retails for $299.99. Everyone stopped looking at the smaller toys.
Papelbon, the man who stipulated his contract include an extra $58 in addition to the guaranteed $50 million, directed the copter with his iPhone as the joystick. He crashed it once and fumbled with a takeoff. Halladay tapped him on the shoulder and asked for the controls.
"This is hard," Papelbon said.
Halladay flew it through the room and buzzed it by unsuspecting players. Papelbon was antsy. He asked for the iPhone. Halladay surrendered it.
Papelbon sent the copter straight ahead. It nearly grazed the clubhouse ceiling. He gracefully lowered it for a soft landing in Laynce Nix's empty chair.
"Look at that!" Papelbon yelled.
Millionaires and their toys…
There’s more, much more, about Papelbon from Gelb, including some Phillies talking about their perceptions of him – which weren’t much different from mine– douchebag – before he came to Philadelphia.