The Kansas City Royals had their photo day on Wednesday, but Bench Coach Dale Sveum was not available due to a doctor’s appointment. In order to get him on the team photo, the team relied on a stand-in actor Jim Caviezel, known as Jesus from the movie “The Passion of Christ”.
Sveum currently suffers from a stiff neck and had to go to the doctor on Wednesday, so he needed a replacement,”So we can use Photoshop to reassemble Dale’s head,”said manager Ned Yost.
Emily Penning, Executive Assistant to the General Manager, was the director of the photo shoot and had fun with it:”Emily shouted:’ Jesus, you have to go back a little bit. Jesus, we are glad that you are here'”, Yost described the situation.”Caviezel countered:’ Yes, you will really need me this year!'”
“I think it was very humiliating for me to just jump into a picture and imitate another guy,”said Caviezel to reporters:”I liked to just get into a team photo. How many times you’ve ever been on an MLB field?”
Caviezel is in the Royals camp at the invitation of ex-player and front-office employee Mike Sweeney, with whom he is friends. The team received a private screening of Caviezel’s new film “Paul, Apostle of Christ”, which will be released in the USA next week.
Caviezel, who was recently a star of the TV series “Person of Interest”, also took part in the Batting Practice and put the royalties in a good mood. Pitcher Ian Kennedy said,”Jesus was in our dugout and kept a watchful eye on us.”
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.