San Francisco Giants fans are certainly doing their part to maintain the intensity of the team’s NL West rivalries.
Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts and Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill recently dubbed home fans at Oracle Park some of the meanest in the majors. The takes came on an episode of the Los Angeles star’s podcast published Wednesday as the two discussed the kinds of heckling they hear from fans while in the outfield. As Merrill tried to recall any “creative” insults he’s gotten, he decided to give Giants fans their kudos.
“I say San Fran got some mean people out there,” Merrill said. “They don’t care.”
Betts reiterated the take almost immediately: “San Fran have mean people out there, bro.”
The 22-year-old San Diego player then placed Oracle Park alongside the likes of Wrigley Field in Chicago and Yankee Stadium in New York, two stadiums that have notorious reputations for their unruly fans.
After repeating that “San Fran” is “mean,” Merrill noted nobody has said anything too out of pocket toward him from opposing crowds. However, one Giants fan, social media content creator TrevsChirps, did get to Merrill in a way that affected him not on the field but on the golf course.
“He chirped me and was like, ‘I bet you always three-putt’ in golf,” the Padres player recalled. “So the whole first month this offseason, I three-putted or more every single green, and I never three-putt. Putting is the strongest part of my game, and I three-putted every time. He put it on me.”
Betts couldn’t help but laugh during Merrill’s story, but what the Dodgers outfielder might find even funnier is the video of the chirping itself.
For the uninitiated, TrevsChirps — real name Trevor Gilmore — sits in the outfield of Giants games and hurls hilariously PG-rated heckles at opposing players, which he punctuates with an emphatic “You bum!” In the video focused on Merrill, the insults included “I bet you’ve never put dirt under your pillow for the dirt man,” “I bet you don’t wear pink on Wednesdays,” and “I bet you think Greenland is actually green.”
But the one that actually got Merrill’s attention was the three-putt comment, which caused him to turn around and smile while shaking his head.
Objectively meaner things have almost certainly been said toward ball players around the country, but it just goes to show that an insult doesn’t necessarily have to be cruel to be effective.