During a New York Yankees broadcast on YES Network earlier this week, Michael Kay pointed out the club’s bat boy was breaking several long-established rules, including his hair length and facial hair. The clip went viral on social media, with many criticizing Kay for his comments. On Wednesday, he shot back.
The bat boy — Nate — is the son of Cleveland Guardians radio broadcaster Jim Rosenhaus, and was moved from his usual position as a ball boy down the foul lines to bat boy because the usual bat boys returned back to school at Ohio State.
Kay shared that Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo joked that Nate should let his hair down, which would go against the club’s rules.
“I didn’t do anything other than say the guy has long hair. I didn’t rip the kid,” said Kay during his 98.7 ESPN New York show while responding to the criticism he’s taken.
“I didn’t write the long article in The New York Post about you. I didn’t write that. ” Rosenberg said.
“Who? They wrote it about me?!” Kay asked.
“I didn’t see that,” uttered La Greca.
“Yeah. I woke up this morning to a headline. It was right below the main page: Michael Kay Has Something to Say About Long-Haired Bat Boy.”
“I didn’t say anything about the kid! I don’t Google myself because I don’t think I’d like what I see, but people on Twitter are saying ‘Old man Kay giving this kid smoke.’ I’m not giving anybody smoke! This is really an awful time,” Kay said, with his voice rising. “This is an awful time in our history as a planet and a human race. Everybody sucks. I’m telling you, they really do. To dig into something and say I attacked someone. I didn’t attack anyone!”
When a producer pointed out that the last line of the article says it’s unclear whether Kay was joking or not, Rosenberg joked “Don’t they know he’s performative!”, alluding to Kay’s insistence he wasn’t serious about threatening the job of a producer earlier this year.
“I got ripped on Awful Announcing, too. ‘He’s the same guy that tried to get a producer at ESPN fired’. No, I didn’t, you clowns. You a-wipes,” Kay said. “I didn’t try to get anyone fired.”
“This is truly the bottom line: people suck. Everybody is out for somebody’s throat. The world sucks. I feel guilty sometimes about bringing children into this. This place sucks. They do! They absolutely do! To get clicks, they’ll sell their soul. To get ratings, they’ll sell their soul. I can’t live like that.”
However, according to Kay, there has been some positive news about the situation. He shared that Nate Rosenhaus is the drummer in a band called The Open Doors, and due to the publicity from his comments, the group has booked a show in Brooklyn.
