Stephen A. Smith threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night, fulfilling a dream of Yankee fans everywhere. Unfortunately, Smith bounced the ball in front of the plate, not even coming close to throwing a strike.
Unsurprisingly, Smith’s colleagues at ESPN trolled the personality throughout the morning on the network.
“You didn’t inspire any kids to pick up baseballs,” Bart Scott said on Get Up. “You embarrassed us all in front of everybody.
Mike Greenberg, on the other hand, was more sympathetic towards Smith as someone who has thrown out first pitches before.
“What you don’t know until you do it is, when you’re standing on top of the mound, the first step you take is straight down,” Greenberg said. “He doesn’t realize that he’s coming straight down.”
“You embarrassed us all in front of everybody.” 🤣@Espngreeny and @BartScott57 weren’t impressed by @stephenasmith’s pitch last night 😅 pic.twitter.com/7kvat4zLeq
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) September 22, 2023
First Take had Snoop Dogg on the show Friday, and the rapper went in on Smith for failing to throw a strike.
“Stephen A. Smith, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for that pitch, there's not one athletic bone in your body,” he said. “That looked more like a bounce pass in basketball.”
"Stephen A. Smith, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for that pitch. There's not one athletic bone in your body... That looked more like a bounce pass."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 22, 2023
Snoop Dogg left a message for SAS after his first pitch at Yankee Stadium 🤣
(via @FirstTake)pic.twitter.com/Ty8VyA3L2s
Additionally, First Take host Molly Qerim put a home plate on Smith’s chair before the show started as a reminder of where the ball is supposed to pass when throwing the pitch.
.@MollyQerim really put a home plate on @stephenasmith’s chair this morning 😭 pic.twitter.com/eEXCF91Two
— First Take (@FirstTake) September 22, 2023
Smith himself was disappointed in the first pitch, calling it a “choke job” on the Yankees broadcast. Now, Smith just has to deal with all the jokes that come with the blunder.