Bally Sports West tried something unusual for its Los Angeles Angels broadcast Friday night.
The network went without a play-by-play announcer, leaving the game in the hands of analysts Bobby Valentine and Mark Gubicza (regular PXP man Wayne Randazzo was away on his usual assignment, calling Apple TV’s Friday Night Baseball game).
To say Valentine and Gubicza had some fun with their unusual broadcast is an understatement. Their routine produced some memorable moments, most notably when Gubicza theatrically pretended to throw Valentine, a former MLB player and manager, out of the booth.
Part I: Mark Gubicza throws Bobby Valentine out of the Bally Sports West Angels booth. pic.twitter.com/lGw5DAArtr
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 3, 2024
A short time later, Valentine returned to the booth, wearing a fake mustache and sunglasses, spoofing the time he got tossed from a 1999 game as New York Mets manager, only to sneak back into the dugout sporting fake whiskers.
Part II: Bobby Valentine returns to the booth in his Mets disguise.
(This was fittingly during a Mets-Angels game on Friday night) pic.twitter.com/aYFUWgU7yG
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 3, 2024
To make the act even more perfect, the Angels were playing the Mets. Valentine’s disguise definitely did not fool the Mets’ broadcast crew, as the SNY camera zoomed in on the hijinks.
.@BobbyValentine broke out the mustache disguise on the @BallySportWest broadcast 🤣 pic.twitter.com/oIOen8TNdO
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 3, 2024
You can’t blame Valentine and Gubicza for having a little fun with Randazzo away, but it raises questions: Did Bobby V purchase that mustache at a stadium concession stand? Or was it by chance the original fake ‘stache from 1999? Because that thing belongs in Cooperstown.
[Bally Sports West]
