SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Fox Sports says it didn't intend to "overshadow" "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider's ceremonial first pitch in Saturday's San Francisco Giants-Los Angeles Dodgers game when it aired another first pitch from a game two days earlier instead.
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A Fox Sports spokesperson told SFGATE on Tuesday that the broadcast, which aired exclusively on local Fox stations, showed NASCAR driver Kurt Busch's first pitch from the Giants' game on Thursday against the Colorado Rockies in order to promote Sunday's Fox Sports broadcast of the NASCAR Cup Series race in Sonoma. The spokesperson said Fox Sports doesn't typically broadcast first pitches otherwise.
Play-by-play broadcaster Adam Amin said "Kurt Busch threw out the first pitch" during Saturday’s broadcast, without saying that Busch threw it two days earlier.
Schneider – the first transgender champion, the winningest woman and the second-winningest champion in "Jeopardy!" history – threw the first pitch on Saturday before the Giants' annual "SF Pride Day," during which rivals San Francisco and Los Angeles became the first teams in Major League Baseball history to wear Pride-themed hats in the same game.
"On Saturday, as part of a promotional package for the weekend's NASCAR race in northern California, we aired a taped first pitch of famed NASCAR driver Kurt Busch," a Fox Sports spokesman told SFGATE. "This promotion was in no way meant to overshadow the ceremonial first pitch for the game as it is not routine for us to air."
Asked why Amin didn't say Busch's first pitch took place two days before Saturday's game, Fox Sports didn't respond to KCBS Radio's emailed request for comment. MLB didn't respond to KCBS Radio's emailed request for comment.
Multiple Twitter users highlighted the broadcast omitting Schneider’s pitch and airing Busch’s, and sports broadcasting blog Awful Announcing noted that a Bakersfield television station’s highlight package from the Giants' 2-0 win on Saturday said that Busch threw out the first pitch.
The following day, with the Giants airing locally on NBC Sports Bay Area, play-by-play broadcaster Duaine Kuiper said he felt compelled to set the record straight about who actually threw the first pitch on Saturday.
"Want to make a correction from what I watched yesterday," Kuiper said during NBC Sports Bay Area's broadcast on Sunday. "The Fox broadcast, the broadcast implied that Kurt Busch threw out the first pitch yesterday, which was not true. Of NASCAR fame, Kurt Busch threw out the first pitch on Thursday. It was Amy Schneider from 'Jeopardy!' fame who threw out the first pitch on Pride Day yesterday, so I just wanted to make sure she got her due."
When a fan tweeted at Schneider to tell her about Kuiper's mention and Fox's omission, the Oakland resident replied, "Well, that's Fox for you."
Owned by the Fox Corporation, Fox Sports falls under the same corporate umbrella as Fox News. The latter network's coverage of Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill and LGBTQ issues prompted the Human Rights Campaign in April to demote Fox Corp. from its list of LGBTQ-friendly employers.
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