With WHIFF and VORP and LIPS, sabermetrics are forcing older generations of Major League Baseball broadcasters, fans and even players to relearn how the game is analyzed, but Dennis Eckersley is especially baffled by the term “drip.”
Earlier this week, during the Boston Red Sox game broadcast on NESN, Kevin Millar was assessing the amount of padding and gear outfielder Alex Verdugo wore at the plate when he began talking about the influence it has on his kids.
“The sliding mitten thing that my kids, I got a freshman and sophomore, they call it drip,” Millar said on the broadcast. “They go, ‘dad I got some drip in my back pocket…it’s all about drip now, we gotta have it in our back pockets, it’s what they do in the show!’”
Kevin Millar trying to explain "drip" to Dennis Eckersley ? pic.twitter.com/PvG6DZDwJh
— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) May 27, 2022
“The drip?” an utterly confused Eckersley asked, clearly unaware of the slang term that’s made its way into Major League Baseball after being popularized by hip hop in recent years. I don’t even want to begin to explain to Eckersley that New York Mets starting pitcher Tylor Megill is nicknamed “The Big Drip,” for his ability to carry his 6’7” frame with style.
“The drip! It’s a swag! Whatever you wanna call it,” Millar answered, sounding frustrated by his kids’ need for extra gear.
Play-by-play voice Dave O’Brien was catching on a little faster than Eckersley. “So what the boys are saying is, that’s swag. That’s slang for swag?”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
“If you’re a first base coach you need a wheelbarrow these days,” Millar added, mocking the amount of gear or “drip” worn by modern baseball players.
O’Brien may have caught on, but Eckersley, who played from 1975-1998 preceding the era of “drip,” still seemed unsure. “I’ll tell ya what, I am so uncool right now.”
Drip is unlikely to become a staple in Eckersley’s vocabulary, but with a mustache like that, it’s impossible to be uncool.
[NESN]