Cactus League fans should gear up for Will Ferrell sightings Thursday
Mar 11, 2015, 1:54 PM | Updated: Mar 12, 2015, 4:41 pm
“Now batting for Oakland … Ron Burgundy?”
Look, Will Ferrell is kind of a big deal. People know him. He has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.
OK, maybe that was just one of his iconic characters, but Ferrell will be a big deal on at least a couple baseball diamonds Thursday.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Ferrell will play all nine positions in at least a couple Cactus League games, shuttling between games via helicopter.
John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted Ferrell will definitely be a part of the Seattle-Oakland game in Mesa that will start at noon. Then, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune, he’ll suit up in the Padres-Dodgers game in Peoria which gets underway at 6:15.
Before that, he will don a Diamondbacks uniform when they host the Cincinnati Reds. He’s scheduled to be at Salt River Fields around 2:10 p.m.
“We are excited to see will take the field for us,” said D-backs Manager Chip Hale. “We hear he’s been taking this seriously so we fully expect Major League caliber play from him while he’s in our uniform.”
Ferrell is promoting the release of his new movie, “Get Hard,” which will hit theaters March 27, but there is another purpose to his spring training stunt.
HBO and MLB are collaborating on the production, which is dedicated to the fight against cancer and to raise cancer awareness.
Here is a list of games he will be playing in:
12:05 p.m. – Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics (HoHoKam Stadium)
1:10 p.m. – Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Tempe Diablo Stadium)
2:10 p.m. – Cincinnati Reds at Arizona Diamondbacks (Salt River Fields at Talking Stick)
4:05 p.m. – San Francisco Giants at Chicago White Sox (ss) (Camelback Ranch)
6:15 p.m. – Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres (Peoria Stadium)
This won’t be Ferrell’s first time in uniform. In 2010, he appeared in a game for the Triple-A Round Rock Express as pitcher Billy Ray “Rojo” Johnson. That appearance was geared to promote Ferrell’s charity golf tournament, which raised funds to give college scholarships to cancer survivors.
Sounds like it should be a lot of fun. You stay classy, Will Ferrell.
