Aubrey Huff's rally thong is history

Aubrey Huff didn't pack his red rally thong. He left it at his Florida home in a bag.

That's where he wants it to stay.

"We retired that thing," Huff said today. "Just play baseball this year and try to keep the antics at home."

Huff began wearing the thong with 30 games remaining in the regular season and suggested the Giants would finish 20-10. Well, they did, winning the NL West by one game. He didn't hide it, either, sometimes wearing it through the clubhouse with nothing else on.

"The Hall of Fame wanted to keep the thong for Cooperstwon," Huff said. "I thought about it and said there's no way. One day my kids will go to Cooperstown and see their daddy wore women's underwear. I'm sorry, that's just not going to happen."

The kids would know anyway, right? After all, Huff pulled the garment from his pants and showed the world at the victory parade.

"I'm sure they'll find out about it with all the Internet nowadays," Huff said. "So it doesn't matter."

Great story. But the Hall of Fame says it never wanted the thong. Brad Horn, the Hall's senior director of communications, said, "That's one bare essential we do not need."

They have wonderful senses of humor in Cooperstown.

Horn was quick to say Huff and the Giants were gracious in the moments after the World Series to donate items for the museum. In fact, because it was such a wild scene after Game 5, perhaps Huff misinterpreted what the Hall was requesting.

For the record, Huff did make a donation.

He was asked for his black spikes, and he surrendered one. And kept the other.

"It's very unique, and perhaps that captures the personality of the Giants' first baseman," Horn said.

In retrospect, Huff said his intention was to not let anyone outside the clubhouse know he was wearing a thong.

"It was supposed to stay in house, but it snuck out," Huff said. "We rolled with it."

All the way to the championship.

But that was last year.

Now the thong rests, and manager Bruce Bochy couldn't be happier.

"It wasn't easy on the eyes," Bochy said. "I can go in the clubhouse a little more often now."



(sfgate.com)