Being asked to throw out the first pitch before a Major League Baseball game is an honor, but it may also be nerve-wracking if you don’t have much baseball experience. It appears simple enough: throw the ball 55 feet in front of the mound and get it over the plate, but those who haven’t thrown a ball in a long time quickly discover that it’s nothing like their few warmup tosses in the tunnel before getting out there.
Bad first pitches are not only embarrassing, but they can also become a part of a person’s legacy. 50 Cent is the biggest example of this, and his first pitch is still the benchmark against which all other terrible first pitches are measured, since he hit a ball 20 feet wide of the plate. He’s far from the only sports or entertainment celebrity to have a disastrous first pitch experience, but his is the most memorable.
Lil Durk threw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field before the Cubs-White Sox game on Sunday, and the unfortunate Cubs mascot dived in vain for a ball that bounced outside the batter’s box.
The good news for Lil Durk is that he’s focusing on the positives of the love he got, not the jokes from Twitter.
It’s not quite as bad as 50 Cent’s attempt to throw it into the dirt area near home plate, but it’s still a poor effort. I’m sure Lil Durk hasn’t spent much time throwing baseballs lately, but it should serve as a reminder to managers everywhere that if your client doesn’t throw a ball very often, there’s no shame in declining a first-pitch opportunity to avoid going viral.
