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Here Comes the Pizza

In Boston, the observance of Patriots' Day includes the running of the Boston Marathon and a home game played by the Red Sox at Fenway Park. During the Patriots' Day game on April 16, 2007, a foul ball hit down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh inning led to a momentous occasion. (previously)
  • The Pizza Incident at Fenway Park
  • The legend of the Fenway Pizza Chucker (ESPN.com)
  • The story behind the Fenway pizza throw (MLB.com)
  • follow-up interview on MLB Network
  • another replay of the highlights in HD

    • posted by kyleg on Apr 16, 2026 at 10:47 AM

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    I have watched this a thousand times and it never gets old. Gold star to the production team for throwing the "Pepsi Fan of the Game" banner up so quick, and for Jerry Remy's evident delight at doing the play by play for a pizza sniper.

    Also the man clearly said "Here comes the pizzer," a very important detail.
    posted by range at 10:51 AM

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    (I know he MEANT "here comes the pizza" but you lose something without the specatular 30% Boston Townie accent Remy brought to color commentary)
    posted by range at 10:53 AM

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    Is THIS why there is a restaurant chain in Canada called Boston Pizza?? Because it certainly isn't because Boston has any special pizza traditions, at least not one that I ever saw after living there for several years.
    posted by solotoro at 10:57 AM

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    "....and here come the pretzels."

    -The Simpsons
    posted by glaucon at 10:59 AM

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    oh, yes. I will never *not* watch this when it comes up. thank you, kyleg.

    holy cow we are almost to the 20-year anniversary...
    posted by martin q blank at 11:10 AM

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    I love watching this video, but it always triggers me because I have to think about how shitty NESN was to Don Orsillo.
    posted by 99_ at 11:20 AM

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    Solotoro - who knows, but there is a weird Greek influenced pizza thing you see all over New England that's distinct from anything "NYish".

    And I do miss Jerry and Don as announcers - they worked so well together. Jerry was definitely a hometown hero (with an absolute shitheel of a son) and Don got jobbed by NESN. (I'm glad he's doing well in San Diego)

    The other classic moment from the pair was calling an Orioles/Sox game and commented on a throwaway shot of two young couples enjoying the game when the boyfriend reaches over and casually gropes his girlfriend. After Remy's quick "oops", what followed was two professional broadcasters go absolutely silent except for the absolute giggles that keep going as Don tries to get his calling voice back before Remy absolutely breaks with a cry of "this used to be a family show".
    posted by drewbage1847 at 11:21 AM

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    i hadn't seen this, but watching it, i could easily imagine my dad in his recliner, me on the couch, watching the game together, and having a very similar conversation as the commentators after seeing that.
    posted by kokaku at 11:32 AM

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    Boston has at least 3 pizza traditions. There's Greek Pizza, Bar Pizza, and Beach Pizza.

    And Greek Pizza and Bar Pizza are great!
    posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:45 AM

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    Jon Bois needs to do a video on this!
    posted by TedW at 11:46 AM

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    For me, the pizza video is not complete without also watching the boob grab. Oh woops, drewbage1847 already mentioned it.
    posted by Melismata at 11:50 AM

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    drewbage1847: what followed was two professional broadcasters go absolutely silent except for the absolute giggles that keep going as Don tries to get his calling voice back before Remy absolutely breaks with a cry of "this used to be a family show"

    I think YouTube put it best: "Comments are turned off"
    posted by wenestvedt at 12:08 PM

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    RonButNotStupid: "There's Greek Pizza"

    My BiL from Rhode Island once said, reverently and in total sincerity, "No one makes pizza like the Greeks."
    posted by wenestvedt at 12:09 PM

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    "Honey, I'm goin'a the ballgame today... and if I seem some guy I'm gonna throw a piece a peetzer at'm."
    posted by slkinsey at 12:20 PM

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    "That's not tolerated at this ball park. He has been ejected and never again allowed to buy pizza"
    posted by drewbage1847 at 12:33 PM

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    See he threw it like a ball rather than like an arrow to take advantage of the piercing point of the pizza slice triangle. That's just poor form. he also could have added a little spin/English to send pizza sauce and toppings flying in all directions to hit multiple people. Needs to put more thought into his food fighting.
    posted by The_Vegetables at 12:52 PM

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    HERE COMES THE PIZZA
    posted by cortex at 1:15 PM

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    And cricket it a hard game to explain.
    posted by Samuel Farrow at 1:21 PM

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    "He's the Pepsi fan of the game, until he gets thrown out" is the most Boston thing ever. GO SOX!
    posted by sriracha at 1:30 PM

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    Pizza incidents are the best incidents.
    posted by mazola at 1:42 PM

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    (apologies for my pronunciation)
    posted by mazola at 1:42 PM

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    My BiL from Rhode Island once said, reverently and in total sincerity, "No one makes pizza like the Greeks."

    Normally I'd agree, but the Houses of Pizza are being passed to a new generation and I've recently had some very good Brazilian 'Greek' Pizza. It even came with complimentary baklava!
    posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:49 PM

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    "Next thing I know, there's a fly ball to left field and it goes foul and my buddy says, 'You want some pizza now?' And he hits him right in the face,"

    Ha!

    "It was just stupidity all around."

    Says the guy responsible for the stupidity (ha!).
    posted by mazola at 2:02 PM

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    Is THIS why there is a restaurant chain in Canada called Boston Pizza??

    It would be pretty forward thinking if it was as Boston Pizza began in 1964 in Edmonton, Alberta.
    posted by Mitheral at 3:05 PM

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    I can't resist asking: What about that name, Boston Pizza? People recognize deep-dish pizza and Chicago-style pizza, but Boston pizza?

    Jim chuckles and shares the story: "Boston Pizza was the name chosen by the Greek family that started the company. They lived in Edmonton, on 101st Street and 118th Avenue. They had to submit three names to form a company; in those days, there was no such thing as a numbered company.

    "Their first choice was Parthenon Pizza; that name was already used by another restaurant. They tried Santorini Pizza but that was gone as well; someone had a Santorini restaurant somewhere in Alberta.

    "And Bill Boston lived upstairs; that was their third choice."

    We both laugh.


    Source.
    posted by mazola at 3:11 PM

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    The video was posted by Paul Kafasis - I knew that name was familiar.
    posted by borborygmi at 3:16 PM

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    I found this last week via a sports podcast (Casuals, which is worth a listen!). Unclear to me if this is even the event they were referencing. The podcast hosts were discussing how much downtime there is in baseball broadcasts. During slow games commentators/cameras might go back again and again to the same spectators or same moment. The pizza moment seems like a great example of that kind of commentary that might only happen in baseball. Maybe it happens in other sports? The Tour de France comes to mind as another example where commentators are often left to fill large amounts of time and that sometimes it comes with hilarious results. Regardless, the original clip had me laughing out loud and then laughing again anytime I thought "Here comes the pizza".
    posted by heatherbeth at 4:47 PM

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    There used to be a ton more downtime back before the MLB introduced the pitch clock - you can see just how much time there is between pitches in that video. Now the games move a bit more briskly! (I do love me some pitch clock and I have since it was introduced in the MiLB a few years prior)
    posted by drewbage1847 at 4:57 PM

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    Heatherbeth, when I was 13 years old, I moved back to Canada from the UK where I had spent the previous three years with my family. I got quite attached to cricket while I was there in the summer of 1981 saw England hosting Australia in an exciting and important Ashes series. I left England between the fourth and the fifth test with the series still undecided. While the fifth test was played. I was holidaying with my family at a friend's cabin on a lake north of Toronto and we were able to listen to the commentary on the BBC World Service over my friend's short wave radio. At one point, I remember sitting on top of a boathouse looking out at the lake and listening to the languid commentary in which remarks about the match were buffered by long minutes of silence. At one point, a friend came over to see what I was listening to, and when all she heard was silence, she asked me what was going on. I told her it was the cricket, and we continue listening to the silence. Suddenly, out of the blue there was a tremendous sound of crashing and breaking china and cutlery coming from the commentary booth.

    In the same slow and measured tones as he had been using for the entire match, the commentator casually said "And someone's upset the tea."

    Another a few minutes of silence followed and the next words out of his mouth were "First ball of the over, and it's a wide."

    Ah, summer days.
    posted by salishsea at 6:48 PM

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    To clear a couple of things up: The man clearly says "Heah cumzah pizzah." No R at the end.

    Massholes generally forgo Rs whenever possible. We only add them in certain cases when a word beginning with a short vowel sound follows a word ending with a short vowel sound. Examples: "Yeah, it is," is pronounced, "Yaritiz." "Santa owes a lot of kids presents," is pronounced, "Santa Rosa wicked lawda kids presents. " "Wolverine is going to claw him right in the face," is pronounced, "Wolvahreen is gonna claw'rem right inda fuckin face, kehd."

    And Boston pizza, like New York pizza, is especially good because of the mineral content of our water, specifically magnesium and calcium. This gives the crust a crispy, bubbly exterior with a chewy interior. This makes Boston Pizza a far better name for a pizza chain than say, California Pizza Kitchen which describes an experience so depressing it is used as a metaphor for sadness in the PIXAR movie Inside Out.

    Finally, I would just like to point out the absolute perfect triangle of grease the pizza made on the gentleman's jacket. Truly a thing of beauty.
    posted by es_de_bah at 8:13 PM

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    One more. Note that the word 'of' is pronounced differently depending on the next word.
    The minor arcana are an area of study for the Fire Goblins of Worcester and the Necromancer Orcs of Haverhill.

    The minerahcaneh rahren arearuv study fo-uh da Figh-yuh Gawblens ah Woostah and da Necromansah Oh-wuks of Hayvril.
    posted by es_de_bah at 8:39 PM

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    California Pizza Kitchen ... describes an experience so depressing it is used as a metaphor for sadness

    Flagged as fantastic, kid.
    posted by jesourie at 10:21 PM

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    Boston has at least 3 pizza traditions. There's Greek Pizza, Bar Pizza, and Beach Pizza.

    and RIP Emma's Pizza, which was like a bunch of delicious toppings on a Matzah

    :(... slices at lunch on Huron St in 1999
    posted by pjenks at 3:31 AM

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    keep the baseball posts comin

    I share these with my partner, she enjoys few things more than a ball game on teevee on a lazy Sat/Sun.
    posted by runsrealgood at 6:46 AM

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    “Pizzland, huh? That's lots of fun. Hey, uh, I wanted to let you know that you burned my frickkin' house down!”
    posted by ob1quixote at 8:46 AM

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    Some sad news that I learned from a Defector commenter named "Here Comes The Pizza": Garret Anderson, the Angels left fielder who crashed into the stands in the clip, passed away suddenly on Wednesday. He was only 53.
    posted by thecaddy at 7:03 AM

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    Oh, that's weird, I was just thinking about Garret Anderson while watching an Angels game last weekend.
    posted by mollweide at 3:36 PM

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