Former Atlanta Braves All-Star Whit Merrifield announced his retirement from baseball in June. The former utility player shared bizarre details about one of his former Braves teammates.Whit Merrifield played much of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays and spent the last season of his MLB stint with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Braves in 2024.The three-time All-Star shared a bizarre ritual that involved R&B icon Usher from 2024."Last year, when I was with the Braves, one of the pitchers on the team, I won't say his name, but before he pitches, we would go and there'd be like a group of five or six of us that would go take a shot. One game, Usher was in town, throwing out the first pitch. We're all getting warmed up, going to the dugout, the pitcher comes in, we go upstairs to the locker room, and Usher's exiting."I yell at him. I go, &you wanna take a shot?' and he kind of laughed. So Usher was like, 'yeah, I'll take a shot.' So he came over and there was like eight of us around and Usher did the salute said like, 'hope you all win or something like that,' and we took a shot with us before the game. One of the coolest things that has ever happened to me was taking a shot pregame with Usher."Merrifield's story drew the attention of MLB fans, who alleged that the starter in question was veteran Braves ace Chris Sale."Can confirm it’s Chris Sale.""With the way he pitches I figured it was Bryce elder but this sounds like a Chris Sale thing and he did start the day usher threw his first pitch. Dude pitches hammered and deals so can’t be mad.""Is this even a question? Definitely Sale," wrote another fan."Sounds like Sale. Don’t think any of the young pitchers could get away with that," said a fan."Well Usher threw out the first pitch on September 14 2024.... Whit started at 2B in the 9 spot and Chris Sale pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball to earn the win," concluded a fan.Whit Merrifield apologized to Phillies fansAfter his retirement last month, Whit Merrifield apologized to Phillies fans in his farewell post."Philly, I liked you way more than you liked me. Sorry I stunk for you," Merrifield said."I loved all the moments. All the highs and even all the lows."Merrifield played the first half of the 2024 season with the Phillies. However, his stint lasted just 53 games as he was released by Philadelphia after batting just .199.