ON THIS DATE (June 25, 1999) ... When the Chicago White Sox took issue with some of his dugout dialogue, teammates Nomar Garciaparra, Damon Buford, Mark Portugal and Bret Saberhagen devised a plot to keep their ace under control.

"Pedro likes to talk a lot when he's not playing," said teammate Nomar Garciaparra.  "He gets very animated out there in the dugout.  It's good ... but at times it's like ... Alright already Pedro! That's enough!"

"One day we were beating Chicago pretty good, and he was talking to the White Sox players and messing with them" continued Nomar. "I was sitting there watching as he was leaning up against the dugout post, and I said to the guys" 'You know what? Why don't we just tape him to this post? Maybe that'll calm him down, and at least he can't walk around all over the place.  It'll keep him quiet.'   So we just started taping and taping.  We were going to keep going. 

At first, he was unconcerned.  Then as we kept taping, he started realizing that he really couldn't move.  We didn't care. We just kept taping.  He was still talking and I said: 'We've forgot one very big thing.  We've got to tape his mouth too."  And then we taped up his mouth.  Finally the game was over, and we just ran out and left him there.  The White Sox players were really good sports about it.  The only reason we didn't leave him tied up is because he was scheduled to pitch the next day."