Today in questionable tattoos: The Bartolo Colon home run tribute

New York Mets fan Matt Sassi made the never recommended “If _ happens, I’ll get a tattoo about it” bet with a friend recently. And this particular bet was about Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon hitting a home run.

Colon is 43 years old (and not exactly in tip-top athletic shape), and entered the season with no home runs in 237 career plate appearances. The Mets pitcher has a career slugging percentage of .114. So, Sassi had good reason to feel pretty safe on this one.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, Colon hit his first career home run on Saturday at Petco Park against the San Diego Padres:

And just four days later, Sassi had a new commemorative Bartolo Colon home run tattoo! As you’ll also see in the caption for the tattoo photo, Sassi and the friend he made the bet with (Anthony Triola) were actually in attendance at Petco Park for the home run:

There are few things in the world less important than a mans word. In this case, a statement was made at the beginning of the season, and it came true. Matt Sassi said to his buddy, Anthony Triola: “If Bartolo Colon hits a home run this year, I’ll get a commemorative tattoo”. Before the game on Saturday I met them in McFadden’s and they told me about this bet. You’d think, ok… that’s not happening. Right? WRONG! Coolest part of the bet was that they were both there to witness the feat in person. Matt is a Middletown, NY native that moved to San Diego. What were the odds that Bart would be on the hill the day of our invasion? What are the odds he’d go yard? Slim to damn near impossible. Matt could have chickened out and not gotten it at all, or gotten something small that could easily have been hidden. Instead he went balls to the freakin’ wall with pretty much a half sleeve. Tossed THE 7 LINE ARMY on there for good measure and added the date of Bart’s now famous swing. You manned up, Matt. Bravo.

A photo posted by The 7 Line (@the7line) on May 11, 2016 at 12:42pm PDT

Welp, that’s not pretty. I’m going to at least applaud Sassi for staying true to his word (and quickly) on this one. And he’ll have an awesome story to tell for the rest of us life, especially after being there to witness the home run himself.

But let this serve as a reminder: Do not make these kind of tattoo bets with your friends. Leicester City, Bartolo Colon… crazy things happen in sports. Unless it’s about the Cleveland Browns. Feel free to live dangerously there.

[Big League Stew]