The Cubs’ bats were out in full force at HoHoKam Park on Tuesday. But the swinging wasn’t on the field, but on the strength & conditioning coach’s car.

CHICAGOSPORTS.COM reports how the fun all started for Tim Buss at the beginning of practice, when Amaris Ramirez pointed out a smashed 1995 Nissan that was sitting on a ramp near the dugout.

Buss looked over at the wreck and replied: “That’s not my car.”

But then Buss did a double-take.

“Dude,” he said to Ramirez. “That’s my car!”

The windows were all smashed in, the front, back and sides were covered in dents, and the windshield had some bats & balls stuck through - the Nissan was no more. Worst of all, it was his wife’s car.

Buss later found out that it was the entire pitching staff that pummeled his vehicle. As morning practice continued, Buss fumed and wondered why they would do such a thing to him.

He got his answer soon enough:

After the workout ended, Buss was talking about the incident to reporters in the Cubs clubhouse when (Ryan) Dempster told him to “quit pouting” and come with him to the weight room to “see something.” From there, Buss and several pitchers walked out a back door and found a 2008 Nissan Xterra parked in the walkway.

The prank came full circle, as the pitchers presented Buss with the new $25,000 SUV. Tim was touched by the gift, almost moved to tears. Good thing, too, as the coach was ready to take drastic measures:

“I thought they lost their mind. I thought, ‘I’m going to have to call Dr. Phil and have a team meeting.’ I couldn’t figure out what they were doing.”

it appears that Kerry Wood didn’t take part in the auto attack, since he hasn’t shown up on the Cubs injury list yet.