The Unforgettable Incident on APPLE TV Plus

Was it an accident by a too-eager beaver? The curious case of an on-screen baseball that almost ruined an Apple TV Plus documentary series.

Fans of baseball, America’s pastime, know that, sometimes, strange things happen. Occasionally, those strange things are pretty funny, too. There are plenty of stories of goofy moments and colourful characters to go around. But what happens when technology – and TV, in particular – intersects with live sport? We can’t possibly be ready for it! Now that streaming services have started to jazz up ‘the sports product’ with new and amusing ways of watching, we have a moment that, right out of the gate, went viral on Twitter. It involves the Los Angeles Dodger Enrique ‘Kiké’ Hernández, the New York Yankees – and an interview that ended, not where it began.

The Incident That Had Everyone Talking About APPLE

And last week, I came across this story from a telecast of a Major League Baseball game, shown on Apple TV Plus. It was the last night of the season. Enrique ‘Kiké’ Hernández was being interviewed on the field by the game announcer Dontrelle Willis, in what Apple calls a ‘unique two-way mic interview’. But then Lady Lifespan turned the kismet wheel and – poof!

When Hernández began to give a chapter on the ‘family’ feel of his team, the New York Yankees upstart Gleyber Torres hit a grounder toward third. Hernández got there first and gloved it, but the ball caromed off his right hand in a bounce so unkind that it struck him in the crotch and allowed Torres the half-second he needed to reach first.

A Bouncing Ball Meets Technology: The APPLE TV Plus Experience

The gaffe was more than a cautionary tale about the capricious nature of baseball; it was a celebration of technology such as Apple TV Plus, which is drawing the audience closer than ever to the spectacle of the diamond. Fans got more than elite baseball: they got living, breathing, previously hidden moments, allowing Hernández to provide a sort of inadvertent layer of connectivity thanks to Apple.

Does This Happen All the Time in Baseball?

Misfires happen on the field all the time: fumbled pitches, dropped balls, misjudged catches – but this particular misfire came at an inopportune moment. It was rare to see a player sitting in the middle of a live broadcast for an interview, much less when he misjudged a bounce on the field. Hernández’s reaction was a display of the erratic, unpredictable – and then charming – nature of live sport.

Hernández's Response: A Reflective Take on the APPLE TV Plus Incident

Asked about the mistake after the game, Hernández joked that perhaps the fact that he was still going to be talking to the media after the game could have been a factor. It’s a reminder of the amount of resilience and good humour professional athletes have to have, for precisely this kind of quirky thing to happen. The error was a fluke – the kind of bit of sports misadventure that you can laugh about – which is exactly what Hernández and the team did. And that’s indicative precisely of the kind of light-hearted ribbing that happens among teammates.

The Role of APPLE in Shaping Sports Viewing Experience

New streaming services such as Apple TV Plus are experimenting with features such as live interviews in-game that could soon revolutionise how we watch live sport, potentially creating a new stream of entertainment that keeps viewers hooked and informed. That trouser-gate saga was the perfect example of how technology can democratise sport, be inclusive and ensure that fans get an enjoyable experience of it.

Fans React: The Power of APPLE's Platform in Viral Moments

It was all there for the world to see, shared instantly on social media as everyone gathered their thoughts on how the play had played out for them. The strange mix that is live sport – the high-quality sheen of Olympic-grade broadcasting delivering a raw and unpredictable experience of humanity and athleticism – is a manifestation of our human need to witness and participate in the grandest game of all, and so such spectacle might be inevitable. Much of this mix of mixes is now delivered through channels like Apple TV Plus, which helped make Brady’s play one of the most talked-about sporting moments of 2020 as social media buzzed with it. Yet each game has the potential to become the planet’s game – and we’ll all get to watch.

Exploring the Core of APPLE

Next to producing some of the most memorable sporting moments, Apple, too, remains a behemoth in the technological and entertainment industry. With its wide range of innovative products and services, Apple’s debut to live-broadcast sport on Apple TV Plus is just another step in its march to dominance. The service offers original content, such as sports, movies, and series, in a move to establish a firm position in the streaming services ladder. The experience is exclusive to consumers worldwide.

While the story of what happened to Enrique ‘Kiké’ Hernández is hilarious and unexpected, it also represents the future of sports viewing at home – live and through streaming technology – while also signalling how Apple TV Plus and other streaming services will enhance and expand those experiences. By combining the best content with interactive elements and other more sophisticated features, Apple brings the future of sports viewing into the home, and helps us turn even the best and worst moments of our favourite leagues and competitions into part of one big story – reason enough to keep coming back for more.