It's one thing to pitch eerily similar to a character Charlie Sheen played in "Major League", it's another to share identical names.
Carlos Estevez of the Colorado Rockies meet Carlos Estevez, the actor.
"I knew about Charlie Sheen in rookie ball," Estevez told Tom Harding of MLB.com. "I was always joking about it in the minors, like, 'When I get to the big leagues, I'm going to play 'Wild Thing.' But that was a joke."
As fate would have it, much like Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, the Cleveland Indians closer Sheen portrays in the film, Estevez's fastball averages 97.3 miles per hour according to FanGraphs, and regularly touches 100 mph. He made his debut in 2016 with the Rockies, and already knew what his entry song would be.
"When I got (to the Majors), I forgot to give them my song to play," Estevez said. "Then the first time I came out, they were playing 'Wild Thing.' I'm coming out for my debut going, 'Oh, this is funny.' I was a little bit nervous, but I heard the song, started laughing, took a deep breath and said, 'Now, let's go.'"
Estevez's pitching arsenal eventually peeked Sheen's interest, enough so that first base coach Eric Young helped schedule a meeting between the two, an encounter Estevez says he relishes.
"It's fun. The fans, all of them, they know the song. They enjoy the song when I come out, so it's fine. And I've met Charlie Sheen, so I can stick to it."
