Nick Castellanos is all too familiar with that one infamous meme.
The Philadelphia Phillies outfielder went viral over the weekend for a funny post to Instagram. Castellanos shared a video of his hitting workout and captioned it, “And there’s a deep drive… Phillies ‘23.”
That caption is no coincidence. It is a reference to former Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman, who got in trouble back in 2020 for using a homophobic slur on a hot mic. Brennaman later attempted to apologize on the air for his actions, only for Castellanos, who was then with the Reds, to interrupt Brennaman’s apology by hitting a home run.
In a now-immortal quote, Brennaman pivoted away from his apology to call the Castellanos home run, saying, “As there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos. It will be a home run. And so that will make it a 4–nothing ballgame. I don’t know if I’m gonna be putting on this headset again.”
The awkward, almost satirical moment would go on to become a popular Internet meme. Now whenever a public figure has a scandal and is forced to apologize, troves of social media users respond with “As there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos” jokes.
Castellanos himself has produced a lot more deep drives since then, hitting 47 home runs over the last two seasons and helping lead the Phillies to the World Series in 2022 with his clutch play. Now we know that Castellanos is a fan of the meme that he helped create.
