Right after Phillies Spring Training started, second year pitcher Kyle Kendrick was informed by Phillies manager Charlie Manuel that he had been traded to the Yomiuri Giants of Japan in exchange for Kobayashi Iwamura. This, of course, was a prank since MLB and Japan teams cannot trade with each other and the fact that Kobayashi is the last name of the Japanese hot dog eating champion. But, Kendrick, young and naive, fell for the prank hook, line, and sinker.
What made the prank great was that so many people were in on it. From the Phillies players, to the mananger, to their assistant GM, to Kendrick's agent, to the Phillies traveling secretary (who made a travel itinerary for him), to the media who asked questions about the trade, it was just the perfect prank. For more about this check out this article from Yahoo! Sports or this one from MLB.com And here's the YouTube video of the whole thing:
