Gunther O'Brian

Gunther O'Brian
O'Brian as of Season 3, by @desmodusrotunds
Basic Information
Team	Charleston Shoe Thieves
Status	Active
Batting
Pitching
Defense
Running
External Links	Blaseball-Reference Player Changes Player Page
Personal Information
Item	None
Armor	None
Evolution	Base
Pregame Ritual	Kneeling
Coffee Style	Plenty of Sugar
Blood Type	Basic
Fate	76
Soulscream	XOEUEXOEUEXEXAUHEXAUHEEAAIAEAAIAEHIAOXHIAOXHEIAAEEIAAEEAOIHOAOIHOAIEAIUIEAIUI
Biographical Details
Pronouns	He/Him, They/Them
Nickname(s)	Strike-Out, Grand Slam, Freebie, o no
Species	Penguin
Other Background Information
Signature Pitch(es)	The Give-Up
Likes	Friendship
Dislikes	Competition, Glazed Doughnuts

Gunther O'Brian is a pitcher for the Charleston Shoe Thieves and has been with the team since Season 3, Day 57 due to the incineration of Matteo Prestige.

Official League Records

Debut and Reputation

O'Brien joined the league on Season 3, Day 57 as a 0-star pitcher for the Charleston Shoe Thieves, beginning their career as one of the worst pitchers in the league. In O'Brian's debut game, the Kansas City Breath Mints scored 18 runs in the six innings after Prestige's incineration. This reversed the Thieves' 10-3 lead, then shamed them, and finally set a new record of 21 runs scored in a single game.

Season 4: Gunther's Heist

After a league-worst 2-17 record and 10.80 ERA going into Day 97 of Season 4, O'Brian took the mound against the Hawaii Fridays with the Shoe Thieves needing one win to clinch the final Good League playoff spot. O'Brian then turned in the best performance of his career to date, giving up only 1 run en route to an improbable playoff-clinching victory colloquially known as Gunther's Heist.

Season 5: Soul Swap

At the end of Season 5, the Soul Swap blessing randomized O'Brian's pitching stats from 0 to .

History

COMMUNITY REPORTS
The remainder of this article contains lore created collaboratively by the Blaseball community.

Gunther was originally the mascot for the Shoe Thieves. On the fateful day of their incineration, Matteo Prestige had planned a classic seventh-inning vanishing act that left Gunther in their place. Prestige was tragically incinerated before they could pull it off.

In a cruel twist of fate, it was Gunther who wandered out onto the field when a replacement player was called for. The umpires declared him the new pitcher on record - the team may have been reluctant to argue the decision so soon after their teammate's demise. Gunther is now just as much a part of the team as anyone else.

Blaseball Career

His lack of pitching ability may be due to him not having human hands, as he is a penguin. It is also speculated that Gunther may just want to give every player a chance, for the love of the game.

Gunther can sometimes be seen placing the blaseball between his legs, as though it were an egg needing to be kept warm, and has to be reminded to pitch. Despite his shortcomings, fellow Shoe Thieves have showered the bird with love and affection stating "He makes an excellent distraction!" and "Hey, he loves shoes, what more do you want from him?"

Gunther's pregame ritual is kneeling, which is difficult to do as he is a penguin. Attempting this maneuver typically leads to Gunther slamming face-down in the dirt and getting dust in his eyes. While it may be adorable, and could be said to raise team morale, it doesn't do wonders for his individual performance. It's widely speculated that he could be a half-star better if he adopted a more achievable ritual.

Gunther has earned the nickname "Strike-Out!" as a result of the celebration on the rare occasion that he gets one.

Beginning in Season 6, Gunther radically improved as a pitcher, making multiple appearances in the top ten pitchers in the league. The reason for this sudden improvement is unknown, but Charleston fans and blaseball tabloids have suggested a number of theories ranging from performance enhancing fish to increase motivation from the success of a popular Star Wars fan fiction set in the universe of the film Happy Feet, often attributed to O'Brian. Other suggest that Gunther simply came to the realization that winning games is fun, too.

No one is quite sure what kind of shoe Gunther specializes in stealing. He has not successfully stolen even a lace so far, but his team is sure that he will get it any day now.

Personal Life

Gunther has a strong aversion to glazed doughnuts. It is reported that every time Gunther falls asleep, his dreams are full of glazed doughnuts. These dreams have caused Gunther to strongly dislike sleeping. This lack of sleep is theorized to be the cause of his signature milky white eyes.

When not playing Blaseball or attempting to steal shoes, Gunther can be found studying sleeping. Despite rarely getting any sleep and harboring a strong dislike towards it, he finds the act of studying and researching sleeping fascinating. Blood Hamburger, a fellow teammate, has told accounts of him waking after a postgame nap to see "milky white eyes starring right at my face." Another member of the team, Snyder Briggs, has told similar accounts of Gunther watching them sleep.

Gallery

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  Season 3 card

• 

  by @desmodusrotunds

• 

  Sleepy time, by @desmodusrotunds

• 

  Season 6 card, by @SashaRoseHansen

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