Pirates’ Tommy Pham drops wild 3-word bomb after Victor Boniface’s girlfriend allegedly cancels wedding over assets drama

Veteran Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham has been a polarizing figure because of his tendency to make the headlines for the wrong reasons over the years.

The Pirates slugger grabbed attention on Thursday after his wild 3-word reaction to Nigerian soccer star Victor Boniface's reported relationship drama.

According to an Instagram account, 254newsofficial, Boniface's girlfriend allegedly called off their wedding after learning the soccer player's assets were in his mother's name.

Pham shared the post in his Instagram story, writing:

"Chess not checkers."

Tommy Pham stirred controversy last week after a loss against the Toronto Blue Jays, alleging Addison Barger of steroid use. Pham made the accusation while interacting with fans on social media.

The Blue Jays outfielder clapped back against the accusations from Pham shed of Tuesday night’s game at the Rogers Centre against the Minnesota Twins.

“I’ve never spoken to (Pham) in my life,” Barger told the Star on Tuesday. “I don’t know anything about him. He was saying I got popped for a PED, but that wasn’t true. I got popped for a stimulant, which is 50 games (suspended) not 80, in 2019 in rookie ball.”

Berger questioned Pham's credibility and accused him of lying on social media.

“It was kind of annoying, but it’s not that big of a deal,” Barger said. “He’s not super credible, so that helps. I would say he shouldn’t be, because he’s just lying about stuff on the internet, which isn’t really cool.”

Pirates manager Don Kelly praised Tommy Pham after Cardinals win

Amid the controversy, Tommy Pham came up clutch for the Pirates to lead the team to a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. He struck a two-run RBI single to turn around the game for Pittsburgh. Manager Don Kelly praised the veteran slugger for his aggressive approach at the plate.

That’s what we talked about,” Kelly said. "He isn’t going up there to work the count and get deep in the game. It’s going up there looking for a pitch that we can handle early on and driving it through the middle. He did exactly that. He’s been so great, especially with runners in scoring position.”

Pham continued his form in Thursday's game, hitting a solo home run to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning. However, the Cardinals came back to win 4-1 to tie the series.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash