When Nolan Ryan retired in 1993, Derek Jeter was still two seasons away from making his Major League debut.
Jeter played in Single-A with the Greensboro Hornets when Ryan called it quits on a 27-career, including time with the Astros, Rangers, Angels and Mets. And yet, that didn’t stop the longtime New York Yankees shortstop and MLB on Fox personality from being asked about the time he faced — or didn’t face — Ryan.
Colin Cowherd has a long list of blunders.
There was the time he incorrectly touted Karl-Anthony Towns. More recently, he proclaimed that the Chicago Bears were out of the first overall pick sweepstakes, even though they currently held the first pick and went on to draft Caleb Williams with it. But when it comes to Major League Baseball, he tends to be fact-checked live on air.
Ahead of last season’s MLB trade deadline, Cowherd learned live on-air that MLB draft picks couldn’t be traded for Shohei Ohtani. And ahead of this year’s All-Star Game, Cowherd learned live on-air, thanks to Jeter, that Ryan didn’t pitch for three decades in the league.
As Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) pointed out on X, Cowherd is usually out of tune with all things baseball.
Ahhh yes, who could ever forget Mariano Rivera’s one pitch…. THE SPLITTER! 😂 pic.twitter.com/WWyS3fKGAe
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) January 6, 2023
And he was out of tune on Monday when he was talking about the “dominant, overpowering” Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and mentioned to Jeter that he “faced” and was “obviously in the Nolan Ryan era.”
Derek Jeter fact-checking Colin Cowherd in real time pic.twitter.com/HBeKXHY6eF
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 15, 2024
Jeter cut that off quickly.
Jeter said about a dozen “No’s” before telling Cowherd, “I never faced Nolan. Slow down. Slow down. I was way after Nolan. Way, way, way after Nolan.”
“Not even an inning?” asked Cowherd. “Way after Nolan. OK, OK.”
Don’t ask a man about his salary, a woman her age, or Derek Jeter about when he faced Nolan Ryan.
The latter never happened, but that didn’t prevent Cowherd from asking Jeter if he faced a pitcher old enough to be his father. Jeter might be 50, but he isn’t pushing 77 like Ryan.
Perhaps Cowherd might want to brush up on his baseball knowledge before he asks Alex Rodriguez about facing Tom Seaver.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.