The ceremonial first pitch at a West Michigan Whitecaps baseball game on Friday was full of surprises.
Not only was the pitch thrown by an elephant, but the ball went straight to catcher Chris Robinson’s mitt.
Fans and players cheered the 2,7m-tall, four-tonne African elephant named Laura after she flipped the ball high and wide.
”I’ve never caught an elephant before,” Robinson told The Grand Rapids Press. ”She had pretty good life on her fastball. It tailed a little bit.”
Whitecaps right-hander Andrew Kown said the team’s pitching staff could learn from the animal.
”I couldn’t believe how far and how hard she throws it,” Kown said before the Whitecaps lost to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-1. ”If an elephant can [throw a strike], we should be able to do it.”
Laura is used to all the attention. The 23-year-old shared the silver screen with Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.
She and her owner, WC Walters of Ivory Haven Farms in Newaygo, also make frequent appearances across the state. — Sapa-AP