I usually have some fun making customs of people that took part in the annual All-Star week Celebrity Softball game, which grabs sports and media personnel from around the area of the ASG home city and pits them all against each other in a friendly softball game, and this year was no exception. I will note before I get into things that this year's crop of participants felt a bit lighter than usual. They've been able to get relatively big people in the past, like the time they got Machine Gun Kelly to hit a game-winning home run while high on acid, or the time the Nationals wound up calling in Bill Nye the goddamned Science Guy to hop in. This year had some good picks, but a lot of lower-key ones.
Also, a few people that I'd done customs of before [Felix Hernandez, Ryan Howard, Joel McHale], and a few people that seemed to be regulars at this point [Chloe Kim, Jojo Siwa, Jennie Finch who's never missed one yet]. There were a few former Mariners, but not as many as you might think; other than Bret Boone, only really Mike Cameron stood out to me as someone worthy of as custom. Cameron was a big part of the M's 2001 team, and was one of the more consistent outfield bats of his era.
Cameron wasn't the biggest ex-MLB-er out there, as Adam Jones, a former Mariners prospect himself, was a big part of his squad, and even had some time on the mound. Jones is still pretty well-liked in Seattle, even if the majority of his playing days were spent in Baltimore.
There were actually a lot of NBA talent at T-Mobile Park for this. Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs' standout of the moment, showed up repping his hometown Mets and palling around with people like Ryan Howard and Joel McHale.
Similarly, current Bulls favorite Zach LaVine, who's actually from Washington state, had a nice hit during the game. Even if there were a lot of usual suspects in this game, it was nice to see some native Northwesterners having a good time.
A few fringe picks I got a kick out of- Skylar Astin was in all the Pitch Perfect movies and now stars on CBS's So Help Me Too. His Pitch Perfect cast member Adam Devine was also in the game, though on the opposing team.
And my favorite one was Marcello Hernandez. This time last year, Hernandez was an anonymous stand-up, and one year of SNL work later he's in the ASG week festivities. Nice to see him repping the Marlins, as you rarely see many people in these games from that part of the country.
Relatively fun stuff from this lot, hopefully next year in Arlington breaks out a few more interesting names.
Nice work!
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