SEATTLE — Former Giants ace Tim Lincecum is tough to find these days (see main story). But for most of the pitcher’s life, the biggest challenge was finding something he was bad at.

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“He could kick a football through the goal posts from 50 yards. He could do 60 pull-ups in a row. … Standing back flips … Walk on his hands from home to first,” said Elliott Cribby, who played with Lincecum at the University of Washington.

“Timmy could hit a golf ball a mile,” said former major leaguer Brent Lillibridge, another former Husky.

“He could hit the center of the dartboard every time,” college teammate Michael Burgher said.

“It was truly amazing watching him and his athletic ability,” Cribby said. “Anything we did, he did better.”

This marks the first major league season without Lincecum since 2007. To give fans their fix of The Freak, here are five amazing feats you’ll never find on the back of his baseball card:

1. Hear Timmy Sing

For sheer entertainment value, ex-teammates say nothing could top Lincecum’s routine as the Human Jukebox. The pitcher was worth a thousand words: He could sing along to any song, any genre, any time.

“Oh, my gosh, so true,” Lillibridge said. “Back then, we just had radio. So in college, especially, music was always on. And he literally sang to every song. It didn’t matter: It could have been rock, it could have been rap, it could have been alternative.

“I swear, we could have pulled out some smooth jazz with a little bit of vocals and he’d know what that was. I don’t remember a time when he didn’t know the lyrics. For complete Giants coverage follow us on Flipboard.

Cribby said that Lincecum’s song skills were so ridiculous that that once the pitcher got rolling with the locker room soundtrack, teammates would switch off the radio and let The Freak do a solo.

“He’d basically take over,” Cribby said. “We’d turn the volume off and he’d take us in. He’d serenade us. He was really, really good. It was a special treat. Literally, any song humanly possible.”

2. Hear Timmy Talk

One of baseball’s zillion unwritten rules is that you steer clear of the starting pitcher on game days.

Linecum was never one for unwritten rules.

“On days he started,” broadcaster Duane Kuiper said, “he would come up to us.”

Heck, Lincecum felt no need for adhere to superstition even before the clinching Game 5 of the 2010 World Series. Larry Baer, the Giants CEO, recalled stepping inside the hotel elevator with his son, Jonathan, a few hours before the game.

Lincecum was there, too, headed for a game that could win the Giants their first title since 1954.

“We just looked down. We didn’t want to bother him,” Baer said. “It was the biggest game of his life. The biggest game in franchise history. And he’s like, ‘Hey, Baer. What’s going on? What’s wrong?”’

Baer laughed at the memory.

“He was just very kidlike. Just sort of a breath of fresh air, new school,” he said. “He was just kind of relaxed about the game. He had a ferocity as a competitor, but he let the game come to him and wasn’t intimidated by it.” Stay up to date on breaking news with our mobile app from the Apple app store or the Google Play store.

3. (Don’t) See Timmy Warm Up

Giants trainer Dave Groeschner said typical starting pitchers take 60-75 minutes to prepare their bodies for the rigors of throwing 100+ pitches.

And then there was Lincecum.

“Man, it was just 20 minutes before the game he’d get dressed and go out there and start tossing,” Groeschner said. “Before you knew it he’d be ready to go. It was as simple as you could do it.”

Former Giants reliever George Kontos saw it happen.

“Yeah, it was incredible,” Kontos said. “I remember sometimes it would be 10 minutes till 7 (p.m.) and he’d get lost in whatever he was doing. And he’d be like, ‘Oh, God, I have to get out there and warm up.

“There were times when I’d see him get on the mound and throw 10 warm-up pitches and say, ‘I’m done. I’m good.’ Then he’d start and throw 7 or 8 innings. He was a Freak. He really was.”’

4. See Timmy Cancel Practice

Cribby, now a pitching coach at Seattle University, marvels at how much fastball velocity Lincecum generated from his small frame.

“Tim was probably the best guy I’ve ever seen from a torque rotational standpoint,” Cribby said. “I mean, he would throw for an inning and then he would walk off the mound and his belt buckle would be rotated all the way around to his right hip.”

But all that power created a safety hazard at a Huskies practice one day. Reading this on your iPhone or iPad? Check out our new Apple News app channel here and click the + at the top of the page to save to your Apple News favorites.

As the University of Washington scrimmaged in the rain, Lincecum lost his grip on the fastball. Really, really lost his grip.

“We had a huge parking lot called E-1. And this parking lot was for tailgating for football games so there are thousands and thousands of parking spaces,” Cribby said.

“He threw a ball into the middle of that parking lot. It seemed like it was about 200 yards away. It slipped out of his hand and it went all the way out there. The coach said, ‘OK, we’re done today. Someone is going to die.”’

5. See Timmy … Wait, What?

Burgher played center field at Washington, which meant he had a lot of dead time on days Lincecum pitched. “There wasn’t a whole lot to do out there,” he explained. “He struck everyone out.”

But Burgher still got to witness some great comic theater. He recalled a Huskies road trip the University of Pacific. Lincecum pitched on Friday night, May 19, 2006, and racked up his usual ridiculous strikeout total.

The next day, it poured, and Lincecum found an unusual way to spend the rain delay. He put his uniform on upside down so that his hands were his feet.

“So his head is in the crotch of his pants. His arms are his legs. And his legs are coming out the top of his uniform,” Burgher recalled.

“And he’s running around at the University of the Pacific in the rain with shoes on his hands. It was pretty funny.

“He was a good dude. He was quirky. And when it came time to pitch, he just turned it on like crazy. He was like a prize fighter: You’d think he was 10 feet tall.”