In the eighth inning of Tuesday’s Spring Training game between the Pirates and Rays, an apparent fight broke out between Pittsburgh’s radio and television broadcast booths.

The Pirates were attempting an experiment in which the guys who usually do color commentary for both TV and radio (Bob Walk, Steve Blass and John Wehner) handled the TV broadcast and the usual radio and TV play-by-play guys (Greg Brown and Joe Block) worked the radio.

Well, Brown and Block turned their broadcast booth into some kind of tropical-themed party, much to the (apparent) chagrin of Blass. Blass stormed the radio booth to steal a decorative plant, prompting Brown to visit the TV booth to trash the color commentators.

You can get video of the entire ordeal at Deadspin, which reported on the incident with grave seriousness, writing “The causes and true nature of Brown’s seemingly long-held grievances may not be known, but it’s pretty obviously time for everyone involved here to take a step back and relax before something happens that everyone regrets.”

“Completely part of the shtick,” Brown said Tuesday night, after Deadspin published video of the broadcast and suggested the two were angry at each other. “If someone were to say, ‘Give me your three best friends on this earth,’ I would say ‘Steve Blass, John Wehner, Bob Walk.’ Those are my three best friends. So it’s just funny how things are perceived and unfortunately, too many people can’t take a joke.”

Blass confirmed that it was all in good fun.

“That was all part of the running joke. It’s hard to keep a one-joke thing going for 3 ½ hours and through nine innings of baseball,” Blass said. “He was absolutely not serious. … I thought it was great. I had a ball.”

We’re glad there’s only love in the Pirates’ broadcast booths.

[Deadspin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.