Haliey Welch, aka the 'Hawk Tuah' girl, throwing out a first pitch at the Mets game. Aug 15, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Viral internet star Haliey Welch reacts after throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before a game between the New York Mets and the Oakland Athletics at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

You may recall a month ago that the New York Mets ecosystem went into meltdown mode when Haliey Welch, aka “Hawk Tuah” girl, threw out the first pitch at a game.

In the aftermath of a fairly innocuous thing, the handwringing, grandstanding, and righteous indignation from the New York media went into overdrive. A Newsday beat writer said he wasn’t even allowed to mention it, WFAN’s Sal Licata went on a rant, and of course Mike Francesa was all over it too. It was as if having a viral sensation throwing out the first pitch at a random August game destroys the fabric of America’s pastime.

The most silly aspect of the whole thing was that it was somehow a symbol of the Mets and their un-seriousness as a franchise. That somehow having Hawk Tuah appear at a game translated into any kind of on-field impact, let alone destroying the sacred fabric of America’s pastime.

Naturally, the Mets are 16-6 since Welch’s first pitch and are a game ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the last wild card spot. And on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Kay Show, ESPN New York’s Peter Rosenberg wants Welch to get her due and a mea culpa from the “jabronis,” “gasbags,” and “walking stereotypes of our business.”

“When will the yo-yos apologize? When will the yo-yo sports talk jabronis, the ones who are walking stereotypes of our business, the gasbags. When will the gasbags come out and say sorry to Haliey Welch, aka formerly, because she’s beyond it now, formerly Hawk Tuah girl? When will they give her her credit? Because this what, this team’s been rolling post Hawk Tuah,” Rosenberg said.

As if that wasn’t a great enough moment, Welch somehow got alerted to the clip on X (formerly Twitter) and took the opportunity to call out Francesa.

Surely this ends in only one way – with Haliey Welch throwing out the first pitch in the World Series as the Mets make it all the way to win the Fall Classic. Then she can go on The Mike Francesa Podcast and settle this thing once and for all in what would surely be the most anticipated sports interview since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach all those years ago.