Brandon Inge, the usual instigator, proclaimed his innocence. Having said that, he was one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. "If it looks like fun, I'll do it," he admitted. Johnny Damon, the role model,  disavowed any involvement in the caper. "Their loved ones cannot be upset with me," he declared.

Actually, the harebrained scheme for half of the Tigers' team to get Mohawk haircuts was hatched in the bullpen and executed between halves of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Yankees. Now the stunt still has the whole clubhouse laughing. "That's what happens when you have too much time on your hands," said first base coach Tom Brookens.

The impromptu shearing was supposed to increase solidarity among the boys in the league-leading bullpen. It appears to have brought the entire team closer together.

"We sit out there in the bullpen and during the first two or three innings it's a little loose," explained Joel Zumaya, one of the provocateurs. "Me, (Eddie) Bonine, (Phil) Coke, (Ryan) Perry _ we were all for it. It was all our idea. It's pretty sweet.

"I think it's cool. It's the whole bullpen. We're going to see how long we can keep it up. It would be pretty cool if we could get the whole team to do it."

"I had a little to do with it, but it was really a whole bullpen stunt," said Coke, who wins the award for Most Outlandish Haircut, hands down. 

"Fu-Te Ni called his mom and dad in Taiwan, probably woke them up out of a dead sleep, to ask if it was OK," revealed Coke. 

"Not true," Ni insisted, through his translator.

But how would your parents react if they knew, Ni was asked?

"Probably go crazy," he replied with a smile.

In his native Taiwan, Ni explained, nobody wears hairstyles like that. "Unless they're models or rock stars," he added.

Australian Brad Thomas admitted he now gets "lots of funny looks." 

"People are giving me a wide berth when they see me."

"It's not the brightest idea we've ever had," Perry confessed.

"We have every position on the roster represented," Inge explained. "We got the whole bullpen, I represent the infielders, Johnny (Damon) is the outfield, Alex (Avila) is the catchers and (Jeremy) Bonderman is the starting pitchers.

"That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it," Inge added.

"Maybe it'll change my luck," muttered Bonderman, who has pitched better than his 1-2 record indicates.

I asked Inge what his wife, Shani, thinks of his new hairstyle.

"I don't know, she hasn't spoken to me yet," he said.

Perry  invited Leyland to join the club. But the 65-year-old manager declined.

"I ain't got enough hair," Leyland growled.

"Besides, I've got my son's graduation to go to."

The lone holdout in the bullpen is closer Jose Valverde, who, according to informed sources, kept encouraging his teammates to get their hair cut, then chickened out when his own turn came.

"I'll do it if you do it," Valverde chided me.

"You first," I said.

He laughed and walked away.