Brooklyn relief pitcher Hamilton Bennett may be playing in Single A, but he has a major league moustache — albeit from a decade far, far away.
Bennett’s statistics this season have been average. But one feature of the hurler’s game — his now-legendary ’stache — is anything but mundane.
To honor their beloved hirsute hero, the Cyclones will be holding “Moustache Mayhem Night” this Aug. 31, when the team will face the Vermont Lake Monsters.
Bennett says that his hairy lip is a shout-out to his South Carolinian roots.
“When I got here, they kept calling me, ‘Hillbilly,’ since I was from South Carolina,” Bennett said. “So I decided to grow a mustache, which is probably the nastiest facial hair I could possibly grow.”
Nasty? Please. Bennett’s caterpiller is straight out of a ’70s porno film. But blame the Mets for this follical faux pas — Bennett said that the team’s management only allows moustaches, no beards.
Given the big league club’s hygienic restrictions, the Cyclones management had only one choice: celebrate Bennett’s bristle with a special evening. Anyone who comes to MCU Park with a moustache will receive a free bleacher seat. And for those weak-lipped folk out there, the ’Clones will give out 1,000 stick-on moustaches at the door.
Bennett, who said his favorite moustachioed player from baseball’s glory days (of facial hair) was Oakland A’s reliever Rollie Fingers, whose “quality ’stache” only makes Bennett happy to be part of the hairy lovefest later this month.
“I can’t wait. It’s going to be a great day, bring your moustache and come on down,” the ’stached southpaw said.
Moustache Mayhem Night at MCU Park [1904 Surf Ave. at W. 19th Street in Coney Island, (718) 449-8497], Aug. 31 at 7 pm. For info, visit www.brooklyncyclones.com.
