Phils broadcaster laughs off foul ball to chest: 'Didn't even feel much of it'

March 19th, 2022

There is little that versatile broadcaster Tom McCarthy hasn't seen in his days in the booth, but even he was caught off guard by what happened in Saturday's Grapefruit League game between the Blue Jays and Phillies at BayCare Ballpark.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Philadelphia outfielder Adam Haseley fouled off a pitch that made a beeline for the home broadcast booth.

You can hear on the broadcast color analyst -- and former Major Leaguer -- Ruben Amaro Jr. call out, "Watch yourself." He then makes a desperate lunge for the ball, but it ultimately struck McCarthy directly in the chest.

"I got it right up here," McCarthy said on the broadcast while laughing it off. "Just gotta tighten up the chest a little bit."

The veteran broadcaster then explained that he was responding to a statistics-related question on his computer. Amaro, who briefly played second base in his 1991 rookie season before moving to the outfield for the duration of his eight-year career, apologized for not making the play.

"Those are my hands again," Amaro joked about missing the ball. "That's why they moved me into the outfield."

"That was funny," McCarthy added as they watched the replay together.

That continued a crazy week for McCarthy, who called the First Four games in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament -- including a double-overtime thriller between Notre Dame and Rutgers that carried into early Thursday morning -- before finally reporting to Spring Training.

"Ruben, I appreciate the assistance," McCarthy said as the game went to break at the end of the inning. "Folks are asking if I'm OK -- I actually didn't even feel much of it."