In comments during a Tuesday morning radio show appearance, Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster John Wehner went after Reds infielder Derek Dietrich for what Wehner had determined to be excessive admiring of home runs.
This in itself isn’t unusual; old players-turned-broadcasters do this all the time. Wehner, though, managed to make things a lot more personal by bringing Dietrich’s late grandfather into the discussion.
The celebrations after the home runs, including standing in the batter’s box for a few seconds to watch homers, upset Pirates broadcaster John Wehner. Appearing on Pittsburgh’s 93.7 The Fan Morning Show before Tuesday’s game, Wehner ripped Dietrich for admiring his home run during Game 2 of Monday’s doubleheader and taking a slow trot around the bases.
“I can’t stand him,” Wehner said on the radio show. “I just don’t see why – I don’t understand why you have to do that. It’s different if you’re a Hall of Fame player, you’re a 60-homer guy, you’re an established guy. Nobody ever heard of him before this year.
“I heard of him because of his grandfather (Steve Demeter) who used to be a minor league coach for the Pirates. He was the nicest, sweetest guy in the world. He’s rolling in his grave every time this guy hits a home run. He’s embarrassed of his grandson.”
That’s very gross! Wehner continued the line of attack during Tuesdsay night’s broadcast, joined by partner Greg Brown as well. Via Tim Benz of the Tribune-Review:
Wehner and play-by-play man Greg Brown doubled-down during the AT&T SportsNet broadcast Tuesday night.
“I can’t imagine, if (Demeter) were alive today, he would approve of it,” Brown said after Dietrich’s first at-bat.
“I’d like to think Steve Demeter would slap him upside his head,” Wehner said. “I guarantee he would tell him it was uncalled for.”
Fortunately, like so many instant karma videos on YouTube, Dietrich (and presumably his grandfather) got their revenge Tuesday night, as Dietrich smashed three home runs against the Pirates.
https://twitter.com/OldHossRadbourn/status/1134132491462303744
Whatever your stance on baseball players admiring homers or celebrating strikeouts or generally doing anything to demonstrate emotion in line with athletic accomplishment achieved on a massive stage after working their whole lives to have that opportunity, hopefully we can all agree that it’s gross to suggest a player’s dead grandparent would be embarrassed by him for admiring a few home runs.
