The 1999 single “Smooth” by Santana (featuring vocals from Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas) continues to be in the public mind 23 years later, and the Seattle Mariners’ tweet announcing a trade Monday is the latest example of that. The Mariners traded for Carlos Santana, and while that’s not the guitarist and bandleader, but rather the Kansas City Royals’ first baseman (he’s helpfully listed as “Carlos Santana (baseball” on Wikipedia), they still dropped a reference to the opening lines of “Smooth” in their tweet:
Man, it’s a hot one.
We’ve acquired INF Carlos Santana and cash considerations from the Royals in exchange for RHP Wyatt Mills and minor league RHP William Fleming.
🔗 https://t.co/psuyT5Ojsn pic.twitter.com/QFfWP2VC3a
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) June 27, 2022
If there are actually people unaware of the reference, this will explain it:
It’s funny that this is the second time this team has traded for Carlos Santana. But they didn’t make the joke the last time around:
He's backhttps://t.co/lmv4t5CtNY
— DFC (@ImDFC) June 27, 2022
It’s also worth pointing out that while “Smooth” was successful in general at its release (it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks and won three Grammys), it’s seen significant new life in the sports blogosphere over the last 15 years or so. From the horse that danced to “Smooth” at the 2016 Olympics to the multitude of references to the song whenever something happened with baseball’s Carlos Santana to the passing around of GIFs from the video, this has long been a sports thing. So it’s fun to see the Mariners leaning into that. And their social media team has given us their heart and made it real.
[Seattle Mariners on Twitter]
