Machine Gun Kelly’s Way-Off First Pitch At Cleveland Guardians Game Was Strictly For the Fans
Throwing out a first pitch at a baseball game can be the best, or worst, day of a celebrity’s life. Some, like Mariah Carey and the Howard Stern Show’s Gary “Baba Booey” Dell’Abate, tank it so hard they become instant, and forever Mendoza lines for diamond disaster.
Then there’s Machine Gun Kelly. The Northern Ohio native capped his hometown charity weekend on Tuesday (August 13) when he was tapped to throw out the first pitch at the Cleveland Guardians’ home game against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field. Unlike 50 Cent’s disastrous attempt in 2014 that nearly took out a cameraman, or Snoop Dogg’s smoker in San Diego in 2016 that had velocity but was wildly off the mark, Colson Baker didn’t even try to get the ball into the catcher’s mitt.
Posted up on the mound in ripped, baggy jeans, a red Guardians jersey repping No. 22 first baseman Josh Naylor and black cap, MGK pretended like he was going to rip one right down the middle and went into what looked like a decent wind-up before sprinting to his right to lob a hard one up into the seats to the delight of the hometown crowd.
Major League Baseball posted the special moment with the caption, “MGK with a unique first pitch [crying laughing emoji].” A video posted after the pitch showed the lucky fan in an MGK T-shirt who scrambled to get the ball holding it up to her phone to take an excited snap of the special moment.
MGK was all over his city this weekend for his MGK Day festivities, which included Friday’s Skate + BMXXing event at Crooked River State Park, followed by a game/trivia night at his 27 Coffee Shop and a movie night at Lago Veranda for a screening of his Life in Pink documentary. Saturday brought a charity softball game at League Park, the former home of the Cleveland Indians (the home team’s former name), and a performance with Nelly at the FWD Day & Nightclub.
Sunday’s events included a takeover of downtown’s streets with a huge bike rally on the way to a performance at his MGK Day Block Party, where he was joined by Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, Jelly Roll and Tee Grizzley, followed by a service day at 27 Club Coffee on Monday and an anime night at Sora.
Watch MGK’s pitch below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
