NEW YORK (Reuters) - Given the delicate subject matter, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was always going to give a brief response to the media inquisition he faced before Friday's Major League Baseball (MLB) playoff against the New York Yankees.
The 66-year-old has provided one of the more unusual talking points in the lead up to the postseason playoffs after revealing he never changes his underwear when his team is winning.
He wore the same undergarments during the Tigers' 12-game streak during the latter part of the regular season and while the streak was mercifully broken, he has vowed to stick with the same routine during the divisional playoffs.
"I will be wearing some tonight," he told a news conference before Friday's opening game of the best-of-five series with the Yankees. "And, if we win, I'll be wearing the same ones tomorrow."
The superstitious Leyland also wore a hole in his lucky socks and took good-luck puffs from a cigar before each game but it was his choice of underpant that the media wanted to know about before Friday's game.
"Long ones," he said, when pressed to provide more details. "I guess those are boxers. Longer than the boxer trunks."
(Reporting by Larry Fine, Editing by Julian Linden)
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