Ray Park plays the silent G.I. Joe ninja in the movies and you might be thinking that this is just him pitching to the A’s Grant Balfour. Well it is, but he’s in full Snake Eyes costume and holding a sword… while he winds up an pitches.
Seriously. Ray Park was doing sword tricks while he pitched! That’s just awesome no matter which way you slice it.
Anyway, the whole ‘ceremonial first pitch’ at the A’s/Blue Jays game yesterday (which was at the Oakland Coliseum by the way) was to celebrate the DVD and Blu Ray release of the latest film in the G.I. Joe franchise – G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The sequel to Rise of Cobra, Retaliation was widely held as a much better and more faithful translation of the classic Joe mythos from both the comics and the original cartoon show when it hit screens earlier this year.
The movie is available (complete with Snake Eyes) right now on both Blu Ray and DVD formats if you’d like to see old Snake do a little more with that blade than throw a pitch. And just to whet your appetite for the full flick, here’s a special look at one of the featurettes from the disc entitled “Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow’s Historic Grudge” from the Target exclusive edition of G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
Photo credit: Alison Yin/Invision for Paramount Home Entertainment/AP Images