Another in an occasional series on things that never fail to crack me up, for reasons I can never fully explain.
Baseball is surprisingly fertile ground for the absurd.
The game’s bucolic nature, leisurely pace, complicated rules, and sheer volume of games – 162 per team in the regular season – is bound to invite statistical chaos.
With so many opportunities for something to go sideways, weird and offbeat stuff is going to happen.
Randy Johnson once threw a fastball that exploded a bird mid-flight.
Jose Canseco had a fly ball bounce off his head and over the fence for a home run.
But sometimes, the funniest baseball moments have absolutely nothing to do with what’s happening on the field.
In this case: concession stand cuisine as weaponry. And the post-event analysis that created one of the funniest announcer breakdowns in baseball broadcast history.
It was April 16th, 2007. A Patriots Day tradition: An 11:00AM Monday morning game, at Fenway Park in Boston.
The Red Sox were playing the Los Angeles Angels.
As the season was just starting, there was nothing particularly memorable about the matchup itself.
But as a foul ball sailed into the stands, a split-second decision by an unruly fan would echo through baseball broadcasting history.
To understand why this moment became legendary, you need to know about the men calling the game that day: Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo.
From 2001 through 2015, they formed one of baseball’s most beloved broadcast partnerships.
Orsillo was the kid in school who would get the giggles:
And subsequently sport facial contortions as he tried – unsuccessfully – to stifle them and get back to business.
And Remy?
Delighting in rendering Orsillo helpless, he was often what you might call “the evil instigator.”
Their chemistry was undeniable.
Their 14 seasons calling Red Sox games together produced a highlight reel of unhinged moments that had viewers laughing right along.
They had a particular gift for losing it completely during slow moments in games.
- Offering random tangents about yoga.
- A debate about the correct way to put on a rain poncho.
- Orsillo’s apparent inability to understand the concept of a lunar eclipse.
- Ridiculous commentary on fans bringing dogs to the game.
When something genuinely odd happened in front of them, they were perfectly positioned to let viewers experience it through their own infectious laughter.
Which brings us to a slice of pizza.
A fan named Jason Sole, then 30, was sitting in the left field box stands, watching the game.
He had allegedly given fans Matt Madore and Danny Kelly grief earlier in the day because he thought that they had brought an entire box of pizza into the game.
Sole was miffed that instead of patronizing the concession workers who hawked food and snacks in the aisles at Fenway Park, they had instead chosen to sneak in a pizza. Which, by the way, Madore and Kelly denied, stating that they had indeed purchased the pie in the park, from a food stand behind home plate.
After seven innings and some liquid courage, Kelly decided to respond as a slightly hammered fan with a leftover slice might do.
Remy, maintaining his professional composure, reviewed the “play” and delivered what became an instant classic:
“Here comes the pizza!”
Remy’s cackle and Orsillo’s attempts to regain composure while simultaneously describing a man getting beaned by mozzarella were something to behold.
So: What’s So Funny About It?
Why does this make me laugh? Several reasons converge:
The randomness:
- In a sport obsessed with statistics and analysis, sometimes the most memorable moments have nothing to do with batting averages or the star rookie’s ERA. Sometimes it’s just a guy in the stands. With questionable judgment. And, to be fair, decent aim.
- If this incident had been scripted, you can bet that we’d cast the projectile as a hot dog. Or a bag of peanuts. Maybe even a box of Cracker Jacks. But a slice of pizza? It’s so left-of-center that it contributes to the hilarity.
The broadcasters’ human reaction:
- Their response wasn’t manufactured or forced. It was two friends witnessing something so strange that they couldn’t help themselves.
The commitment to the moment.
- As if to honor their core mission, the broadcasters didn’t just note the pizza toss. They analyze, freeze-frame, slo-mo replay, and dissect the incident as if it were a two-outs-in-the ninth, game-deciding call. Their detailed review of the four-cheese play-by-play is delivered with World Series worthy cadence.
Remy’s apology to the viewers at home for not having his telestrator handy is hilarious. In the current world of carefully curated and scripted sports, this moment when professionalism gave way to pure silliness was a delight.
As we all know, what’s “funny” is subjective. But this kills me. See if you agree:
That April morning gave us one of the funniest baseball moments ever televised. And notably: one that had nothing whatsoever to do with baseball. Eighteen years later:
I still find myself saying, “Highly unnecessary,” at least once a week.
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I’ve never seen this before or even heard about it. It’s hilarious because it looks so random and I love the announcers’ reaction. You can’t help but laugh along with them.
My favorite food story at a baseball game is one I heard Reds pitcher Rob Dibble tell on ESPN radio. He and Norm Charlton were walking toward the bullpen when an opposing fan threw a half-eaten hot dog at them. Charlton picked it up from the dirt and ate the rest of it. They were afterall part of the Nasty Boys so very on brand.
My goodness. I can’t believe I used to listen to sports talk radio. I miss those days so much. Dibble would partner up with Dan Patrick on ESPNRadio.
What I learned from Rob Dibble:
I seem to remember both of those things. He’s not wrong about working the count. The 2016 Cubs basically drove pitchers out of the game by working the count and discipline and patience at the plate was one of the many reasons they won it all that year.
Oh, and I too love scented candles. Way too much.
We have friends over every so often and it doesn’t matter what we’re having, I’ll say, “Here comes the pizza” as dinner is served. My wife and his wife don’t get it but my friend falls on the floor laughing.
Every. Single. Time.
Baseball may not be the most exciting sport, but sentimentally, it’s my favorite. I appreciated this pizza moment, which I hadn’t heard of before.
This was cheesy, in all the right ways, and I loved it.