Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay made the most of a golden opportunity on Thursday to deliver a few fast food-inspired puns during Game 1 of the club’s doubleheader against the White Sox.
With New York trailing 6–5, a perfectly-timed showdown between White Sox first baseman Jake Burger and Yankees relief pitcher Michael King teed Kay up for a home run of a joke in the top of seventh inning. After noting that the players’ names on the scoreboard spelled out Burger King, Kay fired up a nod to the burger chain’s famous slogan following a Burger foul ball.
“King wants to have it his way right now,” Kay said, with the count at 2–1.
The at-bat soon ended after Burger followed another foul ball with a groundout to third base. As you might expect, King securing the third and final out of the inning against Burger seemed to inspire Kay, who couldn’t pass up the chance to deliver a callback to his previous joke.
“That is a Whopper of an out that King got, and that’ll do it,” Kay said as the inning came to a close.
Michael Kay realizes that a Burger-King matchup is happening. ⚾️🍔👑📺🎙️
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 8, 2023
"King wants to have it his way right now."
"That is a Whopper of an out that King got." pic.twitter.com/VChFRylz3M
While the game ended with a Chicago victory, Kay clearly appeared to be in a punny mood in spite of New York’s tough outing. Of course, considering the clip’s viral potential, it also stands to wonder if the announcer may have been angling for a brand deal, or at the very least, a free Whopper Jr.
