High fly: Francona takes Indians crew skydiving
Cleveland manager Terry Francona went skydiving for the first time last week, and he liked it so much that he persuaded a couple of Indians coaches to join him for another jump on Thursday.
The team posted video on Friday of Francona making his second jump from 2 miles up, this time joined by bench coach Brad Mills and pitching coach Carl Willis.
“Hey, if this goes bad, tell Millsie not to screw up the pitching.”
Tito went skydiving AGAIN, but he brought some friends along this time …
(via themelissasteele/IG) pic.twitter.com/0U9q9gFdMv
Francona made his first plunge on March 14, encouraged by some Navy SEALs who were working out at a pool with him. “It was unbelievable,” he told MLB.com.
He jumped in tandem with an instructor.
“For me, to get out of the plane was the hardest thing,” Francona said. “He’s like, ‘Pull your legs up.’ And I’m like, ‘They are!’ But they open the door and that wind comes — and you’re like, ‘Oh my god.'”
Francona said he didn’t like jumping without a helmet, which is a requirement for first-time skydivers.
The second time around, with a helmet this time, “the free fall was just awesome,” he said.
When Francona made the first jump, he joked that Mills had moved all his things into the manager’s office. So he brought his bench coach with him this time.
After Cleveland’s game against the Texas Rangers in Surprise, Arizona, on Thursday, Francona showed reporters a picture of Mills just about to jump out of a plane.
“Millsie made it,” Francona said. “I was really worried about that. If Millsie didn’t make it, our guys wouldn’t know where to go tomorrow.”