Sometimes, you gotta enjoy the little things in life.

On Monday night Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was in a more playful mood than normal as his club took on the Texas Rangers. Tigers fans are accustomed to his no-nonsense attitude, but Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon found himself on the wrong end of a rare Leyland prank:

As you can see, Leyland waits for the perfect opportunity when McClendon isn't looking and plants his piece of gum on the railing right where McClendon's elbow was. McClendon's reaction and Leyland's little smirk at the end are priceless. Here's the first part of the saga, with accompanying play-by-play from Rod Allen and Mario Impemba. 

Perhaps Leyland had a good feeling about the inning after Tigers slugger Brennan Boesch belted his second home run of the game. Shortly after GumGate ended, Andy Dirks and Alex Avila blasted a pair of home runs to bust a 4-0 game wide open. Detroit won, 13-7.

UPDATE: Here is the official game tape from Fox Sports Detroit, with better quality picture and sound.