Travis Kelce may have a good excuse for his hilariously bad first pitch at the Cleveland Guardians game recently.
During a new episode of their podcast New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, Travis, 33, and his brother Jason, 35, revealed that their mom Donna was originally supposed to throw the pitch at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
“Honestly, mom kind of threw me under the bus,” Travis told his brother. “Mom was supposed to throw it.”
Travis continued, “If I would’ve known that I was throwing it the entire time, I would have been on the mound all week getting my fastball right.”
Jason said it looked like Travis “threw it as hard as” he could as a possible explanation for why the ball went straight into the ground before quickly bouncing up, causing Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber to run for cover.
Travis said he was “so happy that Shane Bieber got out of the way” after the risky pitch. “I felt like I put his life in danger,” the NFL star joked.
With little time to practice after finding out he’d be filling in on the mound for his mom, Travis said he was only able to warm up with a net that was just 10 feet in front of him. “That’s probably why it went straight into the ground,” Travis said.
The Kansas City star admitted he was “never special on the mound” and “never comfortable” pitching when he played the sport. “When I played baseball, I was a right fielder,” Travis explained.
Afterward, Travis said his arm was feeling sore from the powerful pitch. “My arm almost fell off! I’ve had three surgeries on this thing,” Travis said.
Kansas City’s star quarterback and Travis’ good friend Patrick Mahomes couldn’t help but laugh at him on social media after the pitch.
“Ayyyyyy bruhhhhhhhhh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀💀🤣🤣🤣 @tkelce,” Mahomes wrote alongside a video of the pitch from Bleacher Report.
Moments later the quarterback added, “Ayyy @Royals lets give him another chance. ASAP!!!”
The Kelce brothers’ sense of humor has been on full display since they played against one another in the Super Bowl. Last month, Travis hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time.
During his opening monologue, which featured numerous cutaways to his family, the NFL star celebrated his 2023 Super Bowl win and revealed that he was nervous about doing the intro on the late-night comedy sketch series.
During the show, Travis took part in various sketches, including one where he played an odd customer at the American Girl Doll store’s café, and another where he portrayed SNL cast member Bowan Yang’s “straight male friend.”
After his hosting debut, Jason ribbed his brother for missing out on niece Elliotte’s second birthday because he was “still recovering from Saturday Night Live.”
“No, no, no, I didn’t get the invite,” Travis rebutted.
“I mean, I was with you. You got the invite,” Jason said, referencing his own cameo on SNL that night.
Travis laughed, adding, “That doesn’t mean I got the invite.”
“I said to your face that you were invited. Don’t worry, Elliotte didn’t miss you. She just asked about Uncle Trav the whole time,” Jason replied, straight-faced. “It’s alright.”