This is about as good as it gets as far as clueless announcers go. From our research department, I believe this comes from the 2nd Inning of Friday’s Yankees/Indians game in the Bronx. Cleveland’s Carlos Santana is at the plate and hits a ball down the right field line. Luckily, Yankees play by play man John Sterling is there to clearly decipher the action in a way that only Chip Caray could possibly understand…
This “sterling” call (oh God, I’m starting to sound like Sterling now) is worthy of a breakdown…
1) Sterling first says it was lined deep down the right field line
2) Then, he calls a base hit (as the Yankee crowd audibly cheers in the background)
3) Nope, on second thought, Sterling sees a foul ball
4) Sterling comments that Santana is mysteriously told by somebody that it is a foul ball
5) Suzyn Waldman informs John that Yankee OF Nick Swisher actually caught the ball
6) Sterling goes on oblivious to the fact that he is announcing a baseball game
That’s a lot to digest. I love everything about this botch though – Sterling’s several layers of not having a clue what is going on in front of his eyes, making things up on the fly, Waldman’s matter of fact correction as if she needs to remind John where he is and what he’s doing, and then Sterling’s totally oblivious reaction to everything that just happened. Perhaps his mind was preoccupied with his next great home run call… or maybe there’s not much that occupies his mind at all.
Thanks to @LevityNYC for the clip!
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