CHICAGO — When Brandon Belt arrived in the clubhouse at Wrigley Field on Friday, his gray road jersey was slightly different than the ones belonging to his Giants teammates.
With a few pieces of black electrical tape, Evan Longoria had placed a makeshift captain’s ‘C’ above the lettering on the left side of Belt’s jersey.
“We were just talking on the plane and bus and he kind of self-proclaimed himself the team captain,” Longoria said. “So when I came in today I just had the idea of putting it on his shirt.”
The electrical tape wasn’t supposed to stay on Belt’s jersey for Friday’s game, but the veteran first baseman gave into peer pressure.
“When I walked in and saw it, it was pretty funny,” Belt said. “I was not going to wear it, but everybody thought that I should. So being the leader that I am, I stepped up and did it.”
The ‘C’ might not have received much attention on a different player, but the spotlight was all over Belt on Friday as he led the Giants to a 6-1 win by going 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and a pair of walks. In a pair of postgame interviews, Belt kept a completely straight face while describing his new role as the Giants’ captain.
“When you’re the alpha, you’ve got to do it,” Belt said. “Everybody else just follows along. There’s a chance it was self-proclaimed and actually it was, and like I said, they just get in line when they know.”
His Giants teammates were happy to follow Belt’s lead on Friday as they improved to 91-50 and maintained a 2.5-game lead over the Dodgers in the National League West with 21 games to play. Belt’s 22nd home run of the year moved him into a tie for the team lead with Mike Yastrzemski while his OPS spiked to .913, which is his highest mark over a full season.
“I thought for sure he would take it off for the game because it’s just some electrical tape,” Kris Bryant said. “But I just loved that he kept it on and had a great game with it.”
The captain chatter started as a joke, but Belt fulfilled the role as well as anyone in the Giants’ clubhouse could have hoped and received praise for keeping the mood light at one of the most stressful junctures of the season.
“I thought that was one of the funnier things I’ve ever seen from any baseball player,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “The comedic timing, the deadpan, the sell, all of it.”
Kapler said he didn’t know if Belt would wear the black electrical tape on his uniform again on Saturday, but regardless of whether Belt dons a ‘C’ or not, the Giants are gearing up to follow him into the postseason.
“I just felt like in my heart, I’ve been the captain all year,” Belt said. “So I told everybody let me get off the plane first so I was the team captain. And they did. When people know that you’re the guy, they don’t say anything, they just do it.”