Stephen A. Smith’s Horrible First Pitch Got Roasted Over And Over On ‘First Take’

Stephen A. Smith has made a career out of having incredibly strong takes about everything. While he’s increasingly done this in a variety of different worlds — entertainment, politics, etc. — Smith’s bread and butter is sports, where he has the innate ability to immediately explain why something is incredibly good or extremely bad.

But now, Smith is on the other side of this. The ESPN personality went to Yankee Stadium to throw out a first pitch on Thursday night and bounced it a good bit in front of home plate. It was easily one of the 10,000,000 or so most embarrassing things to happen to someone wearing a Yankees jersey in Yankee Stadium this season, and on Friday’s edition of First Take, Smith found the shoe on the other foot, as people kept coming on the show and cooking him like a well done steak.

Things started with Smith trying his best to explain himself while everyone at the desk looked on disapprovingly.

And then, trouble started. Both Snoop Dogg and Shannon Sharpe recorded and sent in messages, with Snoop saying he should be “ashamed of that pitch” and Sharpe saying he’s gonna really cook him on Monday morning when he’s on the show next.

Steve Harvey decided to get in on the fun, as he called into the show and said that he’s been getting calls about the pitch, which left him embarrassed. ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky also decided to chime in by getting his children involved.

Did Derek Jeter and Jay-Z also make fun of him? You know it.

And guess what: Shaq called in, and after he got through some takes about the Dallas Cowboys and Deion Sanders, he actually said that he did not see the pitch. (If you do not understand the Tex Johnson thing, please enjoy maybe my favorite clip in Stephen A. Smith history.)

I would like to personally congratulate everyone on what was probably an extremely fun (and long-awaited) day for all of them.