Batting Around with Kelly Wunsch

By Jimmy Greenfiedl / MLB.com

Lights, camera, splat!

The reward for doing something exceptional on the field is often a postgame television interview, which often enough turns into the perfect opportunity for the hero of the day to be hit with a shaving-cream pie in the face by one of his teammates.

Though it takes quite a bit of thought and planning to successfully conceive and execute a pieing, these stealth attacks have occurred more frequently over the last couple months in the White Sox clubhouse, as the team's rookies, always favored targets, have begun to receive more playing time.

White Sox reliever Kelly Wunsch, both a giver and receiver of pies this year, provided MLB.com with a primer on how, when, why and who to pie.

MLB.com: What's the main reason behind the creamings?

Wunsch: Because it's fun. It's not so much something that they need to get done; it's just an excuse for us to pie somebody in the face.

MLB.com: How much planning goes into it?

Wunsch: Well, after the game is over with, if somebody like [Joe] Crede hits the game-tying and game-winning home runs [as happened on Aug. 27], it's kind of a no-brainer that he's going to get put on the postgame show. It's just the perfect opportunity.

It's one of those things that, when they do it to you, it means they like you. The guy getting pied gets a kick out of it. Like I said, there's really no planning. It's just that he's going to be on TV [and] he's kind of the new guy, [so] we'll pie him. It even happens to the older guys, too. It just depends on whoever's doing the pieing, what their mood is.

MLB.com: But you seem to enjoy doing the pieing.

Wunsch: Oh sure, it's fun. I've been pied before; it's fun to pie.

MLB.com: Under what circumstances did you get pied?

Wunsch: I got pied this year during a big rain delay in Philly. And I think the reason I got pied is just because they heard I was going to be on the FOX pregame and they just wanted to see somebody get pied during an interview. It's just kind of funny to see somebody react to it.

MLB.com: What's the strategy to making sure the guy doesn't see you?

Wunsch: You just wait until they're on camera and looking at the camera. That's pretty easy. Or if they're not in position that you can get behind them without them seeing you you just try to get somebody else to run cover for you by walking in front. Like when I got Crede, I had to have one of the batboys pretend like he was cleaning up stuff in the dugout, so I could sneak up on him.

MLB.com: What about your choice of shaving cream? Menthol, regular, gel?

Wunsch: You know, I would prefer it be whipped cream. But since most clubbies don't keep whipped cream handy, I like Foamy. I've seen people do a pie with that gel stuff, and it just doesn't quite make the same sort of impact. Foamy makes a bigger mess.

MLB.com: Has there ever been any retaliation?

Wunsch: No. It's one of those things where, if you're doing a bunch, you might want to sort of pay attention the next time you're on camera, regardless of the reason that you're on camera. [Say] you just happen to be a guy that they wanted to talk to to fill some space. That's normally not a reason to get pied, but if you've been doing it to so many people, then there is a chance you will get pied.

MLB.com: This probably went on less in the minors, because there was less TV then.

Wunsch: Right. It does go on in the minors, but rarely. The one thing about the minors -- almost every time there is TV [coveragee], there is a pie involved. At least they try to.

MLB.com: How do you decide who gets to do the pieing?

Wunsch: It's just whoever thinks of it and is quickest on their feet. I think the bullpen guys probably think about it more, probably because we're sitting down in the bullpen with less to do and are a bit further away from the action of the game. Things like that maybe occur to us more often than the other guys. Maybe the definition of a reliever makes us more mischievious.

MLB.com: Who have you gotten this year?

Wunsch: I've just gotten Crede and Willie [Harris]. The guys were getting on me when I got Crede, because they thought I hit him in the face really hard. I had the plate by the edge and I stuffed it in his face, but he tried to dodge it at the last second, so it looked like, when I hit him, I snapped his head back. They're, like, "You broke his nose!"

MLB.com: Who's up next?

Wunsch: I'd like to get Mr. [Mike] Porzio. I always like to get the bullpen guys the best. Porzio or [Jon] Rauch, I think I'd like to get.

MLB.com: Has there ever been a failed pieing?

Wunsch: That I was involved with? No. I always get my target.