Breaking Down the Miami Marlins' Handshakes

Last week, Fish Striper rayrayrayrayrayrayray brought up the topic of Marlins player handshakes, and it was one that simply needed to be broached. The Miami Marlins have a slew of elaborate handshakes that have indeed gotten less pub from the media than their now team-wide use of the "Lo viste?" hand signal. And while the "Lo viste?" has gotten them into trouble before (witness Wilton Lopez of the Houston Astros plunking Hanley Ramirez and flashing "Lo viste" at the Fish), the Fish's elaborate handshakes are considered enough of a commonality in baseball to be acceptable.

But Marlins fans must be intrigued as to what those handshakes exactly are. So, at the behest of the previous post on the matter, let's take a look at some handshakes, shall we?

Warning: Many GIFs ahead. If you are on a slow computer, perhaps it is best for you to wait for a faster one before continuing past the upcoming jump.

The Ringleaders

Somehow in my head, I always figured the ringleaders to the handshakes were Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes. You knew Reyes would enjoy creating handshakes for everyone, and we have seen Ramirez do this sort of thing in the dugout with Emilio Bonifacio and Alfredo Amezaga (what is with utility infielders and handshakes?) in the past. Since we also knew that Ramirez and Reyes turned out to be the best of friends (no surprises there), it is no surprise that they at least came up with something for themselves.

Reyes and Hanley: tap the other guy's shoulder -> two handslaps at chest level -> cross arms across chest -> lean back

This one seems pretty simple, and I do think the crossed arms to the lean back looks pretty cool. It is not as elaborate as I suspected it would be coming from two masterminds such as those two, so in that respect, I am a little disappointed. But nevertheless, it is a worthwhile handshake and one that can be done quickly so as to not delay the descent by either player to the dugout for more handshakes.

Boni the Trendsetter

You had to figure Bonifacio was going to get in on this, since Boni is the trendsetter who began the whole "Lo viste?" thing that carried into this season. Sure enough, he has something with Hanley.

If I had to put this into words, it would be:

High five -> back low five -> chest pound with palm -> "Lo viste?" hand signal with forward and back arm motion -> shushing motion

This one is a little more complicated but just as fast as the Ramirez / Reyes combination. It also incorporates Boni's signature maneuver as well, so it does get bonus creativity points. I am a fan of the shushing motion, as it is loaded with attitude and looks pretty cool at the end of celebratory things such as home runs; in that respect, it is much like the crossed arm lean back of the previous celebration handshake.

If the team is planning on doing these handshakes only after homers, however, it will make finding a Reyes / Bonifacio handshake difficult. Neither player has hit a home run this season, and indeed Bonifacio has only one extra-base hit thus far in the year, so I would not count either of them driving the other one in often enough to see a handshake that way.

The Monster Masher

If the Fish are planning on doing these celebrations primarily after home runs, then Giancarlo Stanton should have a number of them in hand. Luckily for us, it seems like he and his teammates have devised a few handshakes just for his monstrosity-lighting, towering mammoth shots.

Reyes and Stanton: two handslaps at waist level -> flex bicep -> pump arm

This handshake is a pretty simple one, and it appears to be a derivative of the Ramirez / Reyes combination that was shown prior to this. Both involve hand slaps that could be chest or waist level (I guess it would depend on whether the players were even level or if one is in the dugout, like Reyes is here) and a motion that comes with a "whoo!" exclamation. I like the Ramirez / Reyes combo better, but Stanton is sure to toss out more of these in the future.

Stanton and Boni: jump high off one foot -> extend arm -> slap hands

Hey, sometimes simpler is better. I'll take 35 more of those all season long, no matter how boring a jumping high five is.

LoMo the Twitter Sensation

Logan Morrison has only had two home runs, but he has made them count in terms of giving us highlights of his various home run celebrations.

Reyes and LoMo: several opposite hand slaps -> cross arms across chest -> lean left -> lean right -> pump arms

This one has a couple of moving parts to it, but it follows the same Reyes-based "slap hands -> lean back" technique that he has thus far shown in his other handshakes. The more elaborate aspect of this one makes it one of my favorites thus far

Unfortunately, this handshake with Morrison and Omar Infante is a little difficult to see because it is obscured by the side of the Marlins dugout and what appears to be a security guard. Nevertheless, it looks like a pretty cool handshake composed of

opposite hand slaps -> hand gesture involving thumb to nose and fingers outstretched

It too looks like a simple gesture, and though it may have initially caught my eye because it looked like Morrison was incorporating his salute that he does at home plate in memory of his father, it still looks like an interesting one that I would like to see outside of the dugout and in plain sight.

LoMo and Boni: chest high hand slap -> belt high back hand (NOT back of hand) slap -> backhand slap in between those two distances -> "rock the baby"

I think this one is my favorite from Morrison, simply because it has something different than the other ones from the other guys. Plus, they're rocking the baby, that's just a cool way to end a home run, similar to the shushing gesture.

The Unlikely Contributor

One guy I definitely did not expect to have these sorts of celebratory handshakes was catcher John Buck, who by all accounts is a nice guy who is pretty reserved. Then again, have you seen how creative his catcher's masks are?

Hanley and Buck: hand slap at chest level -> two inside elbow slaps -> put hand behind head -> shake up and down a few times -> make "shhhh" gesture

This one is just awesome. The inside elbow slaps on the arm wrestling hand grip look like a display of strength, and I like the shake behind the head and shushing motion as always as well. It is as if they threw salt over their shoulders for good luck, then told the opponents to be quiet, because that's just how they are. I am definitely a fan of this one, and I look forward to more Buck home runs just to see those.

This one is another cool one, even though it too is fairly simple. It looks like it goes something like:

Captain's salute -> salute motion to helmet -> Boni pats Buck on the head while Buck gives Boni the congratulatory butt slap

The salute comes off as an extremely strong gesture, the type that I like in a home run celebration. The rest of it is simple, but again, I'll take seeing that another 12 times this season if it means the Marlins are scoring multiple runs.

All in Good Fun

I enjoy celebrations in any sport as much as everyone else. Even in a sport as straight-laced as baseball, I am glad that we can have things like "Lo viste?" and these Marlins player handshakes to spruce things up. There are more, obviously, but I have yet to find good film footage of them just yet. As I do find it, I will update you guys with GIF pictures of these. For now, I hope you enjoy these, and of course, we have to determine which one is the favorite of the Fish Stripes faithful! Tell us in your comments and vote on your favorite Marlins handshake in the poll!