"The level of panic was pretty high” - Jon Rahm opens up about throwing first pitch at the 4th game of World Series
On Tuesday, October 31, Jon Rahm received one of the highest honors in American sports culture: throwing the first pitch at an MLB World Series game. It was undoubtedly a moment of mixed emotions for Rahm, who admitted that his "level of panic was pretty high."
In an interview with SiriusXM's Gravy & The Sleeze, the 2023 Masters champion said:
"The level of panic was pretty high. I got invited to go to the team's clubhouse right in the locker room, they introduced me to [Merryll] Kelly, who was catching the pitch, talked to a few of the guys and I could not stop asking for advice of what to do."
Rahm continued:
"It was nice, because everybody was unanimous, everybody was like 'go in front of the mound, you have dress shoes on, you've never done it before, so you go in front of the mound'. Turns out I wasn't allowed to go on the mound, so that helped. And then, the usual, right?, 'do not bounce the ball, do not lobb it, don't worry too much about throwing strike,' and I was ok."
He concluded:
"I'm not gonna lie, I did practice at home, not with the suit on, but pretty much all the pitches were way better than the one I threw. At least I was going to put speed on it, I was not lobbing it."
Jon Rahm's Spanish origin suggests that his relationship with baseball is practically nonexistent. The sport is not very popular in Spain, so Rahm probably saw and heard very little of baseball during his childhood and adolescence.
Although Jon Rahm has lived in the United States (in Arizona, to be exact) since his college days, he doesn't seem to be a baseball fan. The Spaniard has declared himself a soccer fan (he follows Athletic Club de Bilbao in Spain), as well as tennis and other sports.
Jon Rahm adds to the strong relationship between golf and baseball
Jon Rahm's ceremonial first pitch at a 2023 MLB World Series game added to the long-standing relationship between golf and baseball; many players in each sport are fans of the other.
Such is the case with Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, who both attended Game 1 of the current World Series in which the Rangers defeated the Diamondbacks 6-5.
Scheffler himself received an honor similar to Rahm's in 2022. In his case, the event took place in April, just days after his victory at The Masters. It was the first pitch of a game between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros.
On the other hand, a large number of MLB stars, both active and retired, are amateur golfers with impressive handicaps. These include Justin Verlander, Joe Mauer, Ian Kinsler, and Adam Wainwright, among others