New York Baseball

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Fair Balls and Foul Language
With no live crowd noise as a buffer at M.L.B. games, on-field sounds are easy to hear on broadcasts — and it’s not all rated PG.

By JAMES WAGNER

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/sports/baseball/mlb-swearing.html


By James Wagner
Aug. 6, 2020

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The frustration was understandable. After striking out Yankees first baseman Luke Voit to end a tough inning that included walking two batters, Boston Red Sox pitcher Austin Brice stomped off the mound on Sunday while berating himself.

“Walked everybody,” he shouted at himself, clearly picked up by the TV broadcast in an empty stadium. “Damn it.”

That was only part of what he said. The rest of his rant was filled with even stronger expletives.

Professional athletes voicing their exasperation, or glee, in the heat of the moment is certainly nothing new. But now, as Major League Baseball stages an untraditional 60-game campaign amid the coronavirus pandemic, players and coaches are trying to be more mindful of their colorful language without the noisy buffer usually created by the fans in the stands — with varying success.

Teams and broadcasters are using artificial crowd noise — both a constant murmur in between plays and cheering after big moments for the home team — to add a measure of familiarity and comfort to the experience. But stadium speakers and mixed-in feeds simply can’t match the volume of thousands of actual humans and their real-time reactions.

So, now, the pop of the catcher’s glove is clearer. The crack of the bat is louder. And spicy language on the field is more intelligible.

“Unfortunately, that’s going to happen,” said Yankees pitcher J.A. Happ, adding later, “It’s just some emotion out there that we’re not used to getting picked up.”

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Those running television and radio broadcasts may have to be more watchful of the more obscene ambient sounds at stadiums this season. While some executives and producers said it had not become a serious problem for them yet, there have been a few instances of adult language leaking through the airwaves already.

In a game last week, Houston Astros outfielder Josh Reddick popped out to Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner. Just after the ball fell into Turner’s glove, someone off camera — almost definitely a frustrated Reddick — yelled an audible obscenity.

Sheepishly, the Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis said, “Sorry.”

The day before, Davis had to do the same when Astros Manager Dusty Baker shouted, “Get on the mound!” punctuated with an expletive. Baker was yelling at Dodgers relief pitcher Joe Kelly, who, in apparent retaliation for the Astros’ cheating during their 2017 and 2018 seasons, had thrown behind Houston third baseman Alex Bregman.

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Kelly later fired a pitch near Astros shortstop Carlos Correa’s head and taunted him, which led to both benches being cleared.

“Oooh, OK,” Davis said after Baker’s profanity. “So in empty stadiums, we pick up some things we don’t normally pick up. Apologies for whoever the potty mouth is.”

Jeff McNeil, the Mets’ infielder, has also been heard shouting an expletive after making outs this year. He is notoriously hard on himself, even when he is playing well, like in 2019 when he hit .318 with 23 home runs and was named an All-Star. He was hitting .343 through 10 games entering Wednesday’s game against the Washington Nationals.


ImageJeff McNeil is not known for hiding his frustration after making an out.
Jeff McNeil is not known for hiding his frustration after making an out.Credit...Adam Hunger/Associated Press
“I’m a really fiery person,” McNeil said last week, before sustaining a torso injury that has him listed as day to day. “I’m a perfectionist, and I want to do everything perfect and, if I don’t, I get a little upset.”

Colorado Rockies Manager Bud Black said that there had been so many changes for this M.L.B. season because of the pandemic that watching one’s mouth was simply another one. It has been easier for some than others.

“Players are watching their p’s and q’s,” he said, “and we’ve made pretty quick adjustments from all the things that are normal during a baseball game, from sunflower seeds to chewing tobacco to language. I don’t know whether we should be commended on that, but it’s been an adjustment.”

Jack Hicks, the longtime engineer for the Washington Nationals’ radio broadcast, said if people on the field were talking close to one of the microphones near each dugout — which are directed toward home plate and meant to pick up the crack of the bat — he shifts to another microphone or turns it down to avoid airing any private or unfiltered conversations. In situations when there could be a lot of swearing, Hicks said, the studio can trigger a delay of a few seconds on the broadcast to filter out any profanity.

And, Hicks said, he does not want any fans, especially children, to inadvertently hear anything inappropriate. “We’re in the entertainment business, and I’m not looking to alienate any listeners at all,” he said.

Despite his best efforts, Hicks said it can sometimes be impossible to avoid airing a player screaming an obscenity, particularly in the worst possible spot — right in front of a microphone. He said he had a reel of 15 years’ worth of such incidents, with the commentators Dave Jageler and Charlie Slowes doing their best to make light of those moments.

Tyler Glasnow, a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, admitted he probably utters profanities after home runs more frequently than most. He did so after he surrendered a solo home run to Atlanta’s Dansby Swanson, in his first start of the season, on July 27. It was the only run he allowed over four innings that game.

Even though he knows microphones may hear him more this season, Glasnow said he just cannot help himself.

“I just do it, as bad as that sounds,” he said. “You only have so much mental capacity of what you can focus on, especially when you’re pitching.”

Last summer, Yankees Manager Aaron Boone produced a viral, profane moment even with fans in the stands when microphones caught him reprimanding the umpire Brennan Miller about his strike zone with some naughty words. A phrase Boone used — “savages in the box” — during the tirade to describe the Yankees’ powerful lineup came to define the team’s 2019 season and was printed on T-shirts and signs.

“Believe it or not, I try to be even mindful of that in all situations,” Boone said of his language. “But I’m also going to react honestly to what I see and try and strike that balance of being mindful and being careful and respectful but also intense.”

Gio Urshela, the Yankees’ standout third baseman, said players and coaches were trying to be more cognizant of everything they say — not just profanities — because opponents can also hear them better during quieter games this season.

The words uttered in any meeting about strategy on the field or chatter from the dugout can easily flutter toward the other side. In past seasons, paranoid players and coaches often covered their mouths with their hands or their gloves to shield against lip-reading opponents. (With most coaches wearing face coverings this year, it may be less of an issue, though some coaches have put a hand over their masks during meetings on the mound.)

None of this will affect Yankees pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who said he has always tried to keep his language clean on the mound — even before this year.

“I know my mom is watching, so I try to keep it PG,” he said.