Despite being an avid Baltimore sports fan, Michael Phelps resides in Arizona, and thus threw the second Diamondbacks ceremonial first pitch of his career Saturday night. He did so complete with his signature “arm flap” warmup. You know the one.
He performed the routine in tandem with Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley, who caught Phelps’ pitch.
Last night, the greatest Olympian ever traded in the pool for the diamond.
Thanks @MichaelPhelps for coming out! pic.twitter.com/5n0FyOoX0i
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 26, 2018
Phelps was representing the Michael Phelps Foundation in honor of August being Drowning Impact Awareness Month.
He told Fox Sports Arizona’s Kate Longworth that he finds the crowd intimidating, and then joked that he’s glad Bradley didn’t hurt his shoulder doing the warmup. “If you’re not used to doing that, it could hurt,” Phelps said into the camera.
The greatest Olympian ever doesn’t have a nickname? That’s what @KateLongworth learned after @MichaelPhelps threw out the first pitch on #PlayersWeekend. Let’s get him one! pic.twitter.com/pfJOSD9huG
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) August 26, 2018
It was also MLB Players’ Weekend, which means players could pick the nicknames on the backs of their jerseys. Another Diamondbacks pitcher, Brad Boxberger, chose to use only a “box” and “burger” emoji on the back of his jersey, prompting this great suggestion for Phelps’ jersey:
Once @Brad_Boxberger did it, emojis just had to happen for @MichaelPhelps's #PlayersWeekend jersey. pic.twitter.com/6dShF0r5h2
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 26, 2018
In reality, his jersey just read “Phelps.” Why it didn’t read “The GOAT” is unclear.
the nickname would be GOAT (short for BOTH “greatest Olympian of all time” & “greatest of all time” !!!
MP will feel a lot less conflicted about which baseball team to root for when Baltimore finally gets a major league franchise someday.
But they have a…oh…I see what you did there. 🙂
looks so happy. So glad he came back in 2016 and rewrote his legacy
He pitched a shutout in the 200 IM for four Olympics in a row. Before him no guy had ever managed to win more than two golds in the same event. His record will likely never be equaled, let alone eclipsed.
“Records are made to be broken”
Even Phelps said that.
He’s the person I am quoting
Dawn Fraser won the 100 freestyle in 1956, 1960 and 1964. The only person who has equaled that achievement is phelps, and he surpassed it.