One of the most impressive aspects of some professional baseball players is their ability to memorize unique, elaborate handshakes with their entire roster, as even one secret handshake is difficult enough to master, let alone 25 or more simultaneously.
After centuries of secret handshakes, it’s also not easy to cook up a unique one these days, but Atlanta Braves star first baseman Matt Olson and teammate Orlando Arcia cooked up a simple, effective, and slightly violent secret handshake that went viral recently.
WSB TV’s Alison Mastrangelo shared a clip of Olson and Arcia’s handshake that showed the two doing a simple motion pointing to each other’s eyes to get locked in, and then immediately slapping each other across the face in unison before walking away.
The Arcia Olson handshake 😂⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tTq2c3Ldz3
We as fans often struggle with giving people their flowers in the moment, instead waiting for years down the road when players have either retired or passed on, and it’s a shame because we all need to be more present and learn to appreciate greatness when we have the pleasure of seeing it live.
Olson hasn’t been as good this season as he was last year when he hit 54 homers and drove in 139 runs for a .993 OPS, as he currently has just nine homers and a .775 OPS.
With Ronald Acuna Jr. gone for the year due to a torn ACL once again, it has been a tough week to be a Braves fan, and hopefully, things like this can help keep the vibes high.
Arcia might also need to slap Olson just a little harder to get him going more at the plate.