The Boston Red Sox hosted the Chicago Cubs in Fort Myers on Tuesday in a spring training game. Watching preseason baseball can be a bit of a slog, so ESPN decided to have a bit of fun with its broadcast.
The Sox are an exciting team full of potential this year, with a new manager and a young core of talent that is often as charismatic as they are productive on the field. One of those stars is center fielder Mookie Betts.
Betts was in right field on Tuesday and talked to the ESPN broadcast live during the game. The crew was asking Betts about another passion of his — bowling — when a fly ball went his way.
Double hit over Mookie Betts' head while he is being interviewed by ESPN — "I ain't getting this one, boys" — ESPN booth cracks up. pic.twitter.com/SXLhuaUfP9
— Cork Gaines, Ph.D. (@CorkGaines) March 27, 2018
“Uh oh,” Betts says as he releases and tries to track the ball down. You can actually hear the chain around his neck jangling as he sprints to the fly ball.
“I ain’t getting this one, boys,” Betts says, still in pursuit as the ESPN crew starts to laugh.
It was a delightful bit of honesty, and one that could only come in spring training on a baseball broadcast. Imagine the outcry if Betts were to be talking during a real game and this were to happen. He wasn’t focused enough! He could have been more worried about the game! Where’s the professionalism? You can already imagine the outcry it would have caused.
At any rate, Betts is very good and so are in-game interviews in baseball. It’s no surprise the two combined for a fun moment on Tuesday.
