Cuban defector Yasiel Puig and the secret ballpark handshake

A few decades ago, the discovery of a video showing a Cuban defector sharing a secret handshake with a mysterious beauty would have invited some serious scrutiny by CIA analysts. But this is 2014, and so the video becomes a harmless Dodgers’ Vine.

Yasiel Puig’s handshaking partner in the Vine was outed by amateur sleuthers as Doane College softball player Amber Alvarez. So much for international intrigue.

Puig and Alvarez are not the only duo to have developed a special ballpark handshake — far from it. Among professional baseball players, both Pablo Sandoval and Johan Santana can lay claim to the title of Grand Master of Hand Wrappers.

During his playing days with the New York Mets, Santana was widely documented to have developed a custom handshake routine for each individual teammate. The Kung-Fu Panda has done the same with the San Francisco Giants.

In the college ranks, the Florida State Seminoles have put in the time to create an entertaining lineup of handshakes including the Popeye’s-inspired “Three Piece with a Biscuit on the Side.”