Michigan infielder Mitch Voit is backtracking this week after doing a controversial celebration during a game.
Voit went viral over the weekend for an out-of-pocket move after hitting a bases-clearing 3-RBI triple in the second inning against USC on Sunday. The junior Voit dove headfirst into third base and immediately started celebrating by pretending to snort a line of cocaine, using the third-base line as his guide.
You can see the video of Voit’s celebration here.
In a post to his X page on Monday morning, Voit apologized for his actions.
“I would like to apologize for my actions on third base yesterday,” Voit wrote. “I made an immature decision in the heat of the moment. The gesture I made does not reflect my character, the household I was raised in, or the block M that I represent in any kind of way. I take full responsibility for what I did, and I am truly sorry to all those who I have negatively impacted by doing this.”
Voit, who is batting an absurd .451 with five home runs and 28 RBIs in 19 games thus far this season, went 3-for-3 with four RBIs on Sunday as Michigan went on to thump USC by an 11-0 final score. While you can’t blame him for getting a little hyped up there, Voit is now apologizing for taking things too far.
The entire episode recalls to mind the original pioneer of the cocaine celebration — former Liverpool and England striker Robbie Fowler. During a 1999 away match against Everton, Fowler scored for Liverpool on a penalty kick and proceeded to taunt the Everton fans by pretending to snort cocaine, using the goal line to simulate it.
Here is the video (where you can see that Fowler even came back for a second sniff).
Fowler later claimed that he was firing back at Everton fans for previously taunting him with false accusations of drug abuse. But Fowler’s celebration still got him a four-match ban from the Football Association (FA) as well as a then-Premier League record £32,000 fine.
Now over two-and-a-half decades later, Voit almost certainly won’t be facing any kind of discipline for his own Robbie Fowler moment. But at the very least, Voit is feeling the need to issue a public apology.
