The Los Angeles Dodgers have an annual tradition called "Rookie Dress Up Day"
Every September, the veterans on the Dodgers roster partake in some light rookie hazing by making the rookies on the team dress up in costumes during the final road trip of the regular season.
The right of passage for the rookies was always good-natured. In addition to wearing the costumes on the team plane, half the fun was always seeing them walk around in the opposing team's city and in the team hotel in full regalia.
The best example of recent memory was during the 2016 campaign, when Dodgers rookies (and other players) dressed up like cheerleaders and hit the streets of New York City.
This year, the unofficial team captain of the Dodgers, Justin Turner, decided to shake things up a bit. Instead of just the rookies on the team dressing up, Turner asked everyone on the team (including coaches, team personnel, and broadcasters) to dress up in costume following their three-game series in San Diego.
Since Halloween was still over a month away, many expected some half-hearted costumes, but the Dodgers did not disappoint. As they've done all season during their historical 2019 campaign, the team brought their A-game and debuted some of the best and most creative costumes we've ever seen.
Ahead of their final three games of the season in San Francisco, and following their sweep of the San Diego Padres last week, the entire team left Petco Park in full costumes.
We've compiled some of our favorites for you, and encourage you to tell us which one is your favorite in the comments section at the bottom of this article.
Courtesy of Dodgers' reporter Alanna Rizzo, Spectrum SportsNetLA produce Mike Levy dressed up as Fox Sports reporter Ken Rosenthal:
Hall of Fame broadcaster Jamie Jarrin, who handles the Spanish language broadcasts for the Boys In Blue, dressed up like longtime Dodgers' scout Mike Brito. Brito is responsible for the discoveries of Fernando Valenzuela and Yasiel Puig:
A lot of players decided to join forces for dress up day synchronizing their costumes for some iconic duos.
Starting at the top left, Justin Turner and A.J. Pollock reignited one of the best rivalries in college football by dressing up in full USC and Notre Dame football jerseys.
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In the top right, Dodgers' pitcher Caleb Ferguson and infielder Jedd Gyorko, joined forces to dress up as the iconic hero and villain from the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Ferguson dressed up like Ben Stiller's character, White Goodman, and Gyorko as Vince Vaughn's character Peter La Fleur.
In the bottom left, Enrique Hernandez and David Freese are dressed up as two employees of the Comprehensive Drug Testing company known as CDT. CDT is responsible for randomly drug testing MLB players throughout the season. (Notice the Conehead costume in the back, a trio of Dodgers donned these outfits).
In the bottom right, two group costumes have been split in two. On the left, rookie catcher Will Smith is dressed up like Will Ferrell's character in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. All of the catchers actually dressed up like characters from the movie, with backup catcher Russell Martin portraying Sacha Baron Cohen's villain character, Jean Girard, and Austin Barnes completed the "shake and bake" duo, dressing up like Cal Naughton Jr.
However, the creativity didn't end there. Starting in the top left, Dodgers' relief pitcher Joe Kelly and outfielder Cody Bellinger dressed up as LeBron James, and his new favorite obsession since moving to Los Angeles, "Taco Tuesday." James himself saw the costumes online and mentioned them during Lakers media day.
In the top right, starting pitcher Rich Hill dressed up like a great white shark.
In the bottom left, pitchers Julio Urias, and Kenta Maeda dressed up as iconic characters from Dragonball Z. They even got their translators to join them. From left to right, Urias as Majin Buu, Maeda as Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo.
Finally, in the bottom right, Cy Young candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu was the ringleader of the "Left Shark" brigade. The infamous left shark became a meme during Katy Perry's 2015 Super Bowl Halftime Show for it's lack of dancing skills.
Our personal favorite, and the winner of the team award (as voted on by the Dodgers players and personnel), was pitchers Ross Stripling and Tony Gonsolin, who recreated the seminal on-screen duo of Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan from the 1994 Film Forrest Gump.
Of course, there might be many more we missed, and you might have your own personal favorite. The best way to see them all is this video of the players exiting the team plane (still in costume) posted on the Dodgers official Twitter account.
