A Baltimore Orioles colour commentator’s remarks during the TV broadcast of a Blue Jays game went a little foul for many fans north of the border Friday night as he openly questioned the “baseball I.Q. of some Canadians” while on-air.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Blue Jays outfielder Myles Straw was leading off on first base when Orioles pitcher Shawn Dubin quickly threw a pickoff attempt to first, eliciting jeers from the crowd.Â
In a  Reddit, the play-by-play commentator pointed out that fans at Rogers Centre didn’t sound too happy about the move.
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“It’s very silly to me, the people who boo the pickoff moves now, a pickoff move helps you with a disengagement. It’s like booing if a pitcher throws a ball,” he said.
In response, the colour commentator explained he had to be really careful with what he was about to say, before claiming that “sometimes we had some major questions about the baseball I.Q. of some Canadians here and there... At times it felt like maybe ... they knew a little bit more about hockey than baseball.”
The play-by-play broadcaster agreed with his on-air partner that he did need to be careful.Â
“Let’s shut down this conversation right here,” he said.Â
“We’re not on the air in Canada, are we?” the second one joked, before his colleague reminded him of the existence of the internet.
In the comments of the post, Reddit users noted that the speakers in the clip are Kevin Brown and former Orioles second-baseman Brian Roberts, with the latter making the remarks about Canadians.Â
It’s not uncommon for home team fans to boo pickoff attempts against their base runners.Â
“I’m 99.9 per cent certain fans of every team boo pickoff attempts, including Baltimore. Am I wrong?” one Reddit user wrote.Â
“No, you’re absolutely correct. Orioles fans do the same exact thing at Camden Yards. I have no idea what he was on about,” another responded.
The comments are the latest in a series of ongoing on-air barbs between the broadcast personalities of the American League East teams.Â
Blue Jays colour commentator and former manager Buck Martinez went viral online this week after he called out the rival New York Yankees during a broadcast on Tuesday.
“The Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care what their record is,” he said. “They have a lot of wild pitches. They make a lot of mistakes in the field. They don’t run the bases very well.”
The Blue Jays beat the Orioles 6-1 and currently lead the American League. Meanwhile, Orioles are in last place in the AL East division.Â
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