Former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park on Monday ― but it didn’t get very far. (Watch the video below.)
That’s because Gronk spiked the ball into the pitcher’s mound much the way he slammed footballs in the end zone to celebrate his touchdowns when he starred for the New England Patriots.
The fans attending the Boston Red Sox’s game against the Cleveland Guardians loved it ― but they didn’t have much else to cheer about. The home team lost, 6-0.
Give Gronk props for putting a different spin on the pregame routine. (And for guaranteeing that a photographer won’t be pegged in the groin by the pitch, like one poor fellow at Fenway several years ago.)
Gymnastics great Simone Biles has cartwheeled and flipped before delivering the ball.
Actor Bill Murray ran the bases before hurling his ceremonial ball at a Chicago Cubs game.
But Gronk’s attempt was just so Gronk. And it put the perfect exclamation point on his day as the grand marshal of the Boston Marathon.
Of course he spiked one at the race, too:
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