A White Sox ceremonial first pitch went hilariously wrong

Ceremonial first pitches usually aren’t very memorable. For the most part, that’s a good thing.

On Tuesday, however, we were given a first pitch that was exceptionally memorable. It was memorable because it was just a perfectly divine bad first pitch.

All the time we see first pitches that miss the target by 10 feet, or come up lame halfway to home. But I don’t think we’ve ever seen what happened before the Chicago White Sox hosted the Kansas City Royals two days ago.

Mary Ruich, a server at the White Sox Guaranteed Rate Field, got the first pitch honors after being named employee of the month (congratulations, Mary!). She didn’t get to warm up before the pitch, and as a result she ended up hitting the one person who was strategically positioned in a place where he thought he couldn’t be hit.

Check it out:

As funny as the end result was, I imagine it was a little scary for the photographer, to see that unfolding through the lens of his camera. Just check out his view of the whole thing!

But everyone had a good attitude about it, and jumped on the opportunity to laugh at the miscue. On Wednesday, the photographer took precautions to make sure he was prepared.

First, he did some warming up, to ensure that he could catch any stray baseballs that came his way.

Then, when the game came around, he did the smart thing and protected his noggin with an umpire’s mask.

Thankfully for him, Wednesday’s ceremonial first pitches were thrown by Chicago Sky rookie Katie Lou Samuelson and head coach James Wade, two people who I presume have a little bit more athletic experience than Ruich. And, by comparison, they did quite well.

Days without a workplace accident in the department of ceremonial first pitches: 1.