New York Yankees broadcasters Michael Kay and John Flaherty have been the talk of the baseball world for all the wrong reasons lately. That came after a rather awkward on-air exchange last week where their relationship appeared a bit strained. And it turns out, viewers weren’t the only ones that picked up on the energy being off between the two.
For those unaware of the situation, Kay and Flaherty were on the call of a game last week between the Yankees and the Chicago Cubs. Flaherty began to discuss how Kay had been rather quiet on the team bus ride to the field, which Kay said was because he wasn’t feeling well.
From there, things then become quite uncomfortable for viewers, as Kay discussed how he had been told that Flaherty actually prefers to work with Ryan Ruocco instead of him on the call of games. A long moment of awkward silence then made it crystal clear that something was up between the two.
Both Kay and Flaherty have since cleared the air about the situation, hugging it out on the YES Network broadcast a day later. But briefly, there were real concerns within the Yankees organization, particularly from general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone, that there actually was some bad blood between Kay and Flaherty.
“Unbelievable,” Kay said on Monday’s edition of The Michael Kay Show about the reaction he has gotten from the on-air moment. “Have you ever heard John and I do the games together? We kind of snark at each other. We’re good friends. We like each other a lot.
“John was getting phone calls from people, ‘What happened with you and Kay?’ Brian Cashman went up to [clubhouse reporter] Meredith Marakovits the next day in the clubhouse and said, ‘What’s wrong with the two of them?’ [Sunday] I was getting on the plane, Aaron Boone said, ‘You and John okay?’ Yeah! I mean, it’s called kidding around.”
Kay further explained his quietness on the bus by saying that he had a “nasty bout with vertigo.” Whether that was the entire reason for the on-air interaction is obviously up for interpretation. But it did seem to be more than just snarking back and forth at one another the way Kay has described doing with Flaherty in the past.
