Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam made World Series history Friday night, and Fox Sports play-by-play announcer Joe Davis’ call will forever be intertwined with that historic play.
Yet while sports media and fans widely praised Davis for his call, the broadcaster was having serious second thoughts about his performance a day later.
The Athletic’s Noah Furtado talked with Davis Saturday, and Davis admitted he’s critiqued his call on that play at length, and is not entirely happy.
First, here’s how Davis reacted as bat met ball in the 10th inning Friday night, as Freeman’s grand slam gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-3 win over the New York Yankees. He impressively made an instant reference to Kirk Gibson, whose walk-off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series bore uncanny similarities to Freeman’s blast.
“Freeman, hits a ball to right field — she is … goooone! Gibby, meet Freddie!” Davis called. “Game 1 of the World Series!”
FREDDIE FREEMAN WALK-OFF GRAND SLAM IN GAME 1 OF THE WORLD SERIES!
Joe Davis on the call for Fox. ⚾️💣🔥🔥🔥🎙️ #MLB pic.twitter.com/f4wmwB3dN0
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 26, 2024
Davis even snuck in a nice tribute to legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully’s call (“She is … gone!”) on Gibson’s World Series shot. Here’s a trip down memory lane to Scully reacting to Gibson’s huge moment in 1988:
Joe Davis with the tribute to Vin Scully and Kirk Gibson with the “RIGHT FIELD, SHE ISSSS GOOOOONE!” line on Freddie Freeman’s grand slam. ⚾️🎙️#MLB #WorldSeries
Here’s Scully calling the Gibson homer for comparison:pic.twitter.com/L2ZugWqppV https://t.co/671RKQh82F
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 26, 2024
“I’d always thought that it would be neat to someday be able to pay homage to Vin somehow,” Davis told The Athletic. “I wasn’t thinking about Vin or thinking about Vin’s call, but I think the fact that I’ve seen that ball hit a million times — we all have … that’s just the first thing that popped into my head. We’ve seen and heard that call a million times and it was like, ‘Well, yeah, that’s exactly what this is.’”
Davis call sounded just about perfect to just about everyone, except himself. He told Furtado he’s critiqued his call “probably more than is healthy.” His wife even told him how everyone loved it, but he told her, “You know how I’m wired.”
“I don’t know if I maybe should have saved the ‘Gibby, meet Freddie line,’ until after he rounded the bases and after the layout,” Davis continued. “I don’t know if it was maybe a little too much right after the, ‘She is gone,’ and I should have just laid out and let the crowd go from there. … So I’ve definitely gone back and picked it apart, probably more than is healthy.”
They’ll be replaying Freeman’s home run for decades to come, and Davis’ call will sound just as perfect then as it did Friday night.
