Justin Bieber is not in the MLB, but he does have an official jersey that alludes to his name thanks to Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Bieber, who made 'Not Justin' his jersey nickname for Players' Weekend. Now, Justin has a jersey of his own that reads "Not Shane Bieber" and was seen wearing it on the back of his motorcycle.
The connection between the two Biebers started when Topps put "Justin" instead of "Shane" on the pitcher's baseball card and Shane lightheartedly called them out on the mistake.
Nice 🙂 @Topps pic.twitter.com/FW8R1Ckzri
— Shane Bieber (@ShaneBieber19) August 3, 2019
They responded with an apology and a J-Biebs lyric saying, "Is it too late now to say sorry?" Shane seemed to laugh it off and the mistake ended up leading to a blossoming, long-distance friendship between the two stars. Justin said he felt a special connection with the pitcher, who then declared they were best friends.
https://t.co/lZUlbcvMGX pic.twitter.com/mUNggir4QL
— Shane Bieber (@ShaneBieber19) August 5, 2019
Shane took the unlikely friendship a step further when he put "Not Justin" on the back of his Players' Weekend jersey, just in case there was still some confusion. Shane says people love to joke around about his name so this year he changed his nickname to follow-up with the ongoing joke.
My 2nd #playersweekend and not much has changed! People just need a friendly reminder sometimes 😂 pic.twitter.com/2q8tb9Qi05
— Shane Bieber (@ShaneBieber19) August 23, 2019
Justin clearly took note of this gesture and decided to have his own Players' Weekend jersey made up, to clarify which Bieber he is. The singer tweeted out a photo of himself in the jersey, and tagged Shane. Since the photo of the jersey hit Twitter, the Indians have asked Justin to come to Cleveland to throw out the first pitch for a game.
. @ShaneBieber19 pic.twitter.com/SaYj589Cbp
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) August 28, 2019
The two not only share a last name, but are also close in age with Shane at 24 years old and Justin at 25. Shane was in the age demographic of listeners when Justin came into stardom, and while he has yet to confess whether songs like "Beauty and a Beat" were on his iPod when he was in high school, the pitcher has admitted that the celebrity tweeting at him is pretty cool.
Will the two ever meet in person? To quote a Justin Bieber lyric, "Never say never."