Put Riley Greene's Ruined Pants in the Hall of Fame

The Detroit Tigers mounted a four-run ninth inning yesterday to steal one from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Riley Greene accounted for one of those runs when he raced home from second on a Gio Urshela single. And absolutely destroyed his pants in the process.

Imagine how much damage a rather routine skid into the dish should do to the pants a professional baseball player is wearing. Then multiply that by, well, close to infinity because what actually happened to Greene's trousers is not suitable for young children or anyone who respects excellent craftsmanship.

This hardly seems possible. I've been watching and playing baseball for 35 years. I feel like I've seen the cheapest of fabric on the rockiest of infields. And not once did that combination produce anything close to this calamity.

We spend so much time talking about how to get young people and casual observers interested in this great sport. Perhaps the answer has been hiding in plain sight and over bare thighs the entire time. After seeing what Greene's pants endured, I am going to be genuinely excited by each and every slide from now on. It's not the best reason to watch baseball but it's certainly a reason.

Dumb things can be special so this is truly a special moment. If the people up in Cooperstown have any sense they've already been working the phones trying to secure the pants for their collection. If nothing else they'll shed some light on this strange era of baseball.