One of the great things about ceremonial first pitches in baseball is it lets teams and communities honor deserving people.
The other great thing is that it often makes people look silly.
We got the best of both worlds Tuesday evening when South Carolina coach Frank Martin tossed out the first pitch at a game of the Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, the Columbia Fireflies.
South Carolina hoops coach Frank Martin throws out the first pitch at the Fireflies game.
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) May 2, 2017
Effort was better than execution ... pic.twitter.com/iigUzqTULx
Martin, who led his Gamecocks to an unlikely Final Four appearance just over a month ago, was, as the saying goes, juuuuuuust a bit outside with that offering to the catcher. He was also just a bit short, too.
Maybe the best part, though, was Martin rotating his shoulder after the wayward pitch, as if it was caused by some random mechanical glitch or a sudden physical issue. Like if one of his players blamed an errant 3-pointer on his hands being sweaty or something.
Martin’s pitch was nowhere near the worst we’ve seen from celebrity guests, but still funny enough that he’s likely to catch some guff from his players - and the Internet - about it.