John Kruk Puts The Announcer's Jinx On The Phillies Seconds Before They Give Up Grand Slam To Reds

The announcer's jinx is a very real thing in sports. We see it play out all the time. You hear an analyst mention a shooter's great free-throw percentage, and they step up to the charity stripe and brick their next attempt. You see it happen in football all the time with kickers, and at least a few times a week during golf tournaments when it comes to gimme-range putts.

Baseball, when you think about it, may be the sport you see the announcer jinx come into play the least. Outside of maybe a pitch type, rarely do you hear an announcer predict a play to come. 

Well, during the Philadelphia - Cincinnati game on Monday night, John Kruk may not have predicted a certain play, but he certainly foreshadowed the situation when Reds left fielder Spencer Steer stepped to the plate with the based loaded.

With the count sitting at 2-0, Kruk decided to note on the broadcast "no grand slams for Spencer Steer, let's hope that continues."

Exactly two pitches later, Steer went yard, because of course he did.

"The 2-1, fly ball, left field, pretty well hit, [Whit] Merrifield going back, it is gone,  grand slam for Spencer Steer,'" Phillies play-by-play man Tom McCarthy said.
 

To make things that much worse, Kruk's jinx came in the top of the 10th inning, and Steer's four-run dingier proved to be difference in Cincinnati's 6-2 win.

Steer's 383-foot home run handed the Phillies their third loss in four games, all of which have come at home.

It's a safe bet that Kruk will not be mentioning grand slams, or any home run stats for opposing teams, for the foreseeable future while on the call for the Phillies.

Written by

Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.