The RoboCop pitch. Let’s hope it gets more attention than the 50 Cent pitch. As opening pitches go, the off-target eefus lobbed by rapper 50 Cent – which was mashed up into a viral video featuring Vladimir Guerrero – was quite possibly the worst in MLB history. RoboCop, it would appear, can’t pitch much better.
To his credit, RoboCop, who was introduced as “the most iconic crime fighter in Detroit history…RoboCop,” at least got the ball over the plate. The fact that it hit in front of the plate and rolled over still qualifies him as better than 50 Cent. For that matter, if you’ve followed the Tigers lately, it probably qualifies him as better than most of the Tigers’ bullpen.
Notice, we did NOT say that 50 Cent is better than most of the Tigers’ bullpen. They’re bad, but not that bad. Better than Phil Coke, maybe.
If you haven’t seen the 50 Cent video, check it out here so you can compare and decide for yourself. Here is the RoboCop pitch video:
It turns out that, despite one bad pitch, maybe the Tigers should have asked RoboCop to close. After Anibal Sanchez threw seven scoreless innings, giving up only two hits and Joba Chamberlain blanked the Jays in the eighth, rookie skipper Brad Ausmus gave the pill to Joe Nathan, who gave up four runs in the ninth. Al Alburquerque allowed a fifth run and the Tigers went on to lose 5-3. RoboCop only had one bad pitch – he could hardly have done worse.
The game in which RoboCop threw out the opening pitch was played Tuesday afternoon as part of a RoboCop Day at Comerica Park. According to a report in the Christian Science Monitor, the event was held to promote the release of the DVD and BluRay of the re-booted RoboCop movie. The movie stars Michael Keaton , Samuel L. Jackson , Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman and Abbie Cornish.
There was no word on whether Detroit officials would rescind RoboCop’s status as “the most iconic crime fighter in Detroit history,” but if they do, we would like to recommend Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley. Chances are, Murphy could get the ball over the plate. On the other hand, if he didn’t, we probably wouldn’t be able to show the video without a graphic language disclaimer.
While it’s unlikely that the RoboCop pitch will negatively affect DVD sales, it’s also doubtful that anyone who saw it will be rushing out right away to get the BluRay – or if they do, it certainly won’t be based on RoboCop’s pitching prowess. Or, who knows? Maybe it will be. These are Tigers fans and – as pointed out – RoboCop only threw out one bad pitch – much better than the Tigers’ bullpen.