Actors describe the feeling as public solitude, the feeling of being completely alone while in public. Being able to master the concept of feeling alone in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, is what gets performers through their battles with stage fright.
We've all heard the adage that most people would rather be in the casket at a funeral than giving the eulogy, due to the rampant fear of public speaking, but for one woman at a Chicago White Sox game, a new fear has emerged: public pitching.
Woman's First Pitch Beans Cameraman
During a White Sox game in 2019, where the Southside Sox were set to face off against the Kansas City Royals, the front office had awarded the team's employee of the month by allowing her to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.
Perhaps her first mistake was walking all the way to the front of the mound to throw her pitch, but the errors didn't end there. As she released the pitch, which we can only assume was a curveball, everyone knew something had gone wrong. Well, everyone except the cameraman Darren Georgia, who was documenting the moment.
The rookie right-hander's pitch sailed towards the cameraman, who had no time to react. The ball bounced off the top of his camera, hitting his trigger finger and possibly sending him to the Injured List for an undetermined amount of time.
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The woman doubled over in embarrassment as White Sox pitcher Evan Marshall, serving as her catcher, laughed his way towards the mound. Our beleaguered beanball hurler threw her arms around Marshall and then looked towards Georgia for the post-pitch photo that had been planned prior to the ill-fated first pitch.
Georgia took the photo and then told NBC Sports Chicago that he and the camera were fine. No minor league cameraperson call-up would be necessary.
The White Sox front office didn't give out the woman's name, possibly due to Chicago's inability to keep calm about misplays from fans. It's also possible that the White Sox wanted to keep her name a secret in order to give her a minor-league tryout and to ward off other teams interested in her services. At the very least other MLB teams are certainly going to want the footage to play during games as a part of their bloopers package.
After all, 50 Cent's botched first pitch from five years prior gets more airplay than his music nowadays. However closer consideration, that's probably because it's the worst first pitch of all-time. Yikes.
Not even Angel Hernandez would dare call that a strike.
This article was originally published May 29, 2019 but a first pitch this bad lives on forever.
