Nick Castellanos delivered on the absolute lock of the century this week.
The Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Castellanos managed to homer in his very first at-bat against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. Castellanos took Tampa Bay’s Shane Baz deep to left for a two-run shot in the first inning to open up the game’s scoring.
NICK CASTELLANOS HAS HOMERED IN HIS FIRST AT BAT
THE JOKES WRITE THEMSELVES
UNBELIEVABLE pic.twitter.com/uxWQVxQpXj
— Philly Sports Sufferer (@mccrystal_alex) September 11, 2024
Fans went absolutely nuts over the home run, and with good reason. After all, Castellanos has a downright eerie tendency to hit a home run during days of historical or social significance (particularly significance for a negative reason). That continued on Wednesday, which was the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Here were some of the social media reactions to Castellano’s latest absurdly-timed dinger.
i apologize if this is insensitive but nick castellanos really just hit a home run on 9/11
— m (@matttadelphia) September 11, 2024
Nick Castellanos whenever someone dies or it’s the anniversary of a tragic event pic.twitter.com/YqIoUxYI3s
— Four Lyoko (@FourLyoko_) September 11, 2024
Nick Castellanos on days of remembrance pic.twitter.com/IG2VytdAKU
— Philly Sports Sufferer (@mccrystal_alex) September 11, 2024
Nick Castellanos hitting a homer on 9/11 should have been the most obvious play in the history of baseball. https://t.co/NCp0dp5Jbd
— Greg Peterson (@GUnit_81) September 12, 2024
The Castellanos meme started in 2020 when the outfielder, then a member of the Cincinnati Reds, hit an extremely poorly-timed home run right in the middle of an on-air apology by then-Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman (video here). Since then, Castellanos has furthered his unbelievable track record of homering or otherwise getting big hits at inopportune times (usually on days that national or global tragedies occur).
Among Castellanos’ “greatest” hits have been homering soon after Vin Scully died, homering on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, and even homering two separate times on each of the respective anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Even just this season alone, Castellanos homered on the day that Donald Trump got shot and then homered again on the day that Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election.
Now with another homer on September 11 under his belt (which Castellanos also unbelievably did on September 11, 2021), the meme truly appears to have no end in sight.
