Watch: Rob Gronkowski Damages Lombardi Trophy
As one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history, retired New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski left a mark an indelible mark on the sport.
He also left a mark on the Lombardi Trophy, quite literally, as the Patriots revealed.
It all involves a baseball, a bunt and the hardware New England won in Super Bowl LIII.
Here’s how Patriots players Matthew Slater, Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon explained what happened.
It happened April 9 at the Boston Red Sox’s home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays. Some members of the Super Bowl-winning Patriots were on hand to throw out the first pitch.
Patriots players threw out the first pitch today, as the Red Sox honored the Super Bowl Champs ? pic.twitter.com/v2GCuUpypp
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 9, 2019
While the Patriots players were throwing warm-up pitches beforehand, Gronkowski and wide receiver Julian Edelman were goofing around.
“It was all fun and games until it wasn’t,” Slater said in the video.
.@RobGronkowski left a mark on this organization.
And on the sixth Lombardi. pic.twitter.com/t5IVTyCXcA
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 17, 2019
“A lot of interesting things happened,” Harmon added.
“Gronk thought of a great idea,” McCourty said. “He’d play and get a swing.”
By swing, he meant swing using the Lombardi Trophy as a bat.
“So, he’s lined up,” McCourty said. “Jules is the pitcher and Gronk is standing there, and I think we’re all under the impression that no way is he going to swing the Lombardi Trophy.”
But that’s exactly what he did. Edelman threw the pitch and Gronkowski squared around to bunt — with the trophy as the bat. He laid one down and moved as though as he was running to first.
The result was a big baseball-sized dent in the trophy.
“Probably not ideal,” Slater said.
“If anybody could do it and get away with it, it’d be Mr. Gronkowski,” Harmon said. “He has now left an everlasting mark so that people will never forget that he was a part of that championship team.”
“The trophy is special, not damaged,” McCourty said. “Now it has become vintage is what I will say.”
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