MLB: Washington Nationals counts on camels as motivation trick

Manager Dave Martinez grabbed a psychology trickbook at the Washington Nationals camp on Wednesday and let camels run wild. Cause was an American saying.

Although the Washington Nationals have often made playoffs in recent years, it has never been beyond the first round. In colloquial terms, the American then speaks of the team not having come “over the hump” – in German it means “to be over the mountain”, while “hump” is the camel’s hump and, incidentally, Wednesday is also known as “hump day”.

New manager Martinez took this constellation as an opportunity to let the camels in. Around 9:30 a. m. on Wednesday morning, he gathered his team in the “Circle of Trust” in the infield outside the clubhouse and shortly after, First Base Coach Tim Bogar and Third Base Coach Bob Henley arrived on camels.

“It’s okay for people to sign it over, but every year reaching the playoffs and winning the division is’ over the hump’ for me. We’ve lost 90 games once a year. People forget that,”noted First Baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

“I thought it was a great idea,”said Bogar, who had also ridden on a cow called Blondie,”I thought it was something to make sure that the boys got a clear head and they had fun with it. We all assumed so. I thought the boys reacted very well to that. The way I saw it, everyone had a great time.”

Henley called “Hump Day!” several times and then both of them parked their channels opposite each other at the entrance to the training field. The players then walked all between the camels.

This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.