New Giants manager Gabe Kapler had a short and unsuccessful first stint as a MLB manager when he lasted two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies.
But it was all the way back in 2007 when Kapler first became a manager at just 31 years old, one year after playing for 72 games for the Boston Red Sox. Kapler took for Boston's Low-A affiliate, the Greenville Drive, that season.
He certainly wasn't your everyday manager, though. Prior to Kapler becoming the Phillies' manager in 2018, Drive players from that 2007 squad told stories of his style to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Among the oddities for a manager was Kapler grabbing a glove and diving at shortstop during practice, out-lifting his players in the locker room and one of the weirdest ice cream stories you can imagine.
That's right, ice cream.
"He was so into health," Former Drive catcher Jon Still said to the Inquirer. "He's addicted to ice cream. So he would sit there and lick ice cream but have a cup and spit it into it. He would lick it just for the taste but didn't want to eat it. I told him, 'Dude, that's like Unabomber type stuff.'
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"That's a thing he did."
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Kapler brought his own organic eggs and organic peanut butter, among other organic foods, with him on the road during that 2007 season. It has been reported Kapler eliminated junk food from the clubhouse when he was the Dodgers' farm director, and made the etire organization go organic before the 2015 season.
The Drive went 58-81 in Kapler's first stint as a manager, good for seventh place in South Atlantic League. Kapler went on to play three more seasons in the majors from 2008 through 2010.
