As everyone else obsessively refreshed their social media feeds on Sunday night waiting for a Jeff Passan or Jon Heyman update to drop, Steve Gelbs was 35,000 feet in the air.
The SNY sideline reporter was en route to the Winter Meetings, desperately trying — and failing — to connect to his plane’s in-flight WiFi. Naturally, that would be the exact moment for a move of such magnitude — Juan Soto signing with the New York Mets — to break.
Gelbs, however, thought he had a built-in safety net.
Just landed in Dallas for the Winter Meetings. The WiFi wasn’t working on the entire four hour flight. Did I miss anything?
— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) December 9, 2024
He was sorely mistaken.
As reports surfaced that Soto had agreed to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets, Gelbs’ reaction was nowhere to be found. To cut Gelbs some slack here, he had just done the SNY pregame and postgame coverage of yet another agonizing loss by the New York Jets and had to catch a late-night flight to Dallas.
But while social media erupted with reporters and fans’ reactions, Gelbs’ timeline remained oddly quiet. He’s usually good for a couple of thought-provoking posts on X (formerly Twitter) whenever major Mets news breaks — part of what makes him such a valuable and entertaining voice on SNY broadcasts.
Gelbs has quickly and quietly solidified himself as one of the more engaging and thought-provoking sideline reporters in Major League Baseball; it’s why he was included in Awful Announcing’s rising sports media stars for the 2024 list. He knows his stuff, delivers it with personality, and brings the quick-witted humor that makes the SNY booth click.
So there he was, blissfully unaware, just like the Texas Rangers fan who walked into his shot at Globe Life Field earlier in the 2024 season, which makes it all the more fitting that Gelbs was on his way to the Lone Star State when this transpired.
Timing, as always, is everything.
And time wasn’t on Gelbs’ side here.
“The WiFi wasn’t working on the entire four hour flight,” Gelbs wrote. “Did I miss anything?”
Just a seminal moment in the history of New York baseball.
No wonder Gelbs had nearly 200 unread text messages.
“I figured something might have gone down,” he added.
When my phone had over 200 texts, I figured something might have gone down.
— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) December 9, 2024
[Steve Gelbs on X]
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.