Tuesday night brought us what some have described as the “worst first pitch ever.” There is, however, another way to look at the wayward effort before a White Sox home game against the Royals: It’s the greatest first pitch ever!
The case for that assessment rests on the degree of difficulty, or at least improbability, involved. The ceremonial pitch, thrown by a woman identified as a White Sox employee of the month, managed to hit its target — provided that the target was a team photographer situated at about a 45-degree angle from what he presumed would be the likely path of the ball.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be good, but I thought I’d be close,” the White Sox employee, Mary Ruich, said Wednesday at a news conference. (via the Associated Press,ESPN). “It was scary.”
Ruich, a server at a restaurant in the team’s stadium, said she wasn’t given time to prepare for her moment. When asked if she wanted a second chance, she initially replied “Oh God, no," but then said she might consider it.