April Fools' Day: Baseball's 5 greatest pranks

Pranks play an integral part in major-league clubhouses.

With ample downtime throughout the course of a grueling 162-game season, big leaguers have gone to great lengths to show off their creativity in executing some of the best practical jokes in all of sports.

In appreciation of April Fools' Day, here's a look at some of the best pranks from the diamond:

"A big donkey with crazy power"

Reigning National League Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant posed as Roy Nabryt - a midseason European transfer student at Mesa Community College who came to challenge for playing time.

"You got us fired up out there"

With Wichita State preparing for the NCAA tournament in 2014, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire brought in Shockers alum Mike Pelfrey to try and fire up his alma mater's basketball team. Little did Pelfrey know, the group on the other end of the line wasn't Wichita State, but his Twins teammates in the clubhouse.

"Isn't this a contract year?"

Orioles reliever Darren O'Day was demonstrating a gyro-stabilized electric unicycle prior to a game at Citi Field, when manager Buck Showalter intervened to rip the left-hander for his carelessness.

"What an idiot"

While spending time with Triple-A El Paso, Jeff Francouer's teammates convinced him for an entire month that pitcher Jorge Reyes was deaf. Reyes, however, is not deaf.

"Kendrick just got traded to Japan"

In what is considered one of the best pranks in sports history, former Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel informs Kyle Kendrick that he's been traded to Japan for Kobayashi.