How can you not be romantic about baseball?
The thing I love about baseball is that there’s so much time during the game that play-by-play announcers and color commentators have to fill. Sure, the MLB figured out a couple of ways to shorten the games, but there will always be enough dead air that causes the broadcasters to get creative.
And during Spring Training, it’s like that creative level gets boosted by 1000%.
With just over a month until the MLB season gets underway, most teams are warming up for their 162 game season by playing even more games before that. Are their too many games played in the major leagues? Possibly! There have certainly been arguments made to shorten the season. However, if you do that, it cuts down on the odds of having legendary broadcasting moments like this one.
As the game between the New York Mets and the Houston Astros moved from the 4th inning to the 5th, the Spring Training coverage cut away to a fierce and intense pickleball game/training session that was apparently happening close by. Keith Hernandez, a former MLB star who was working together in the Mets Broadcast booth with Ron Darling to call the game, proved that he’s already in mid-season form. His contribution to the pickleball footage that was shown during the game, which featured a shirtless man and a somewhat scantily-clad woman, was this uttered phrase:
“I’m distracted.”
Now was Keith simply saying that the back-and-forth nature of the rally was distracting? Maybe it was the clinking and clanking of the paddles sending the ball repeatedly over the net?
Those are real possibilities, and we can’t rule them out. But most of the internet thinks that Hernandez entered into a dazed and mostly speechless state because of the woman that was returning the shirtless man’s hits, and they commended him for his commentary:
They’re gonna have to put a shock collar on Keith Hernandez one of these days. Or at least stop showing b-roll of attractive women during the games.
— Jeverett15 (@jeverett15) February 22, 2025
Best booth is sports
https://t.co/Vyeu46tvgU
— Jesse (@silverindow) February 22, 2025
Can’t blame Keith, that is far more entertaining than any baseball game.
— Dick Dastardly (@Gossamer2121) February 23, 2025
Never change Keith
— IslesOnTop(Signed Matt Martin!)(MetsForever) (@IslesOnTop) February 23, 2025
The day Keith Hernandez retires from the broadcast booth will be a National Day of Mourning https://t.co/NP8TH6h0DO
— Keane (@kranepool) February 23, 2025
Believe it or not, some people are outraged that Keith Hernandez said, “I’m distracted.” I simply view it as a baseball announcer having a little fun during the broadcast, and like I pointed out earlier, Hernandez’s response was vague enough to where you can’t really know what he was talking about.
Yet we all do know what he was talking about…
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The 2025 Phillies St. Patrick’s Day Hat. pic.twitter.com/ce4Keo68p4
— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) February 17, 2025
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The post MLB Announcer Keith Hernandez Admits He’s “Distracted” While Watching A Woman Play Pickleball During Spring Training Game first appeared on Whiskey Riff.