This was an all-time announcer screw-up.
“You can’t turn the black c–k black, err, clock back,” ESPN announcer Tom Hart mistakenly fumbled during the bottom of the eighth inning as Vanderbilt was at-bat against Auburn.
“Whoa,” color commentator Chris Burke reacted.
“I know it’s after midnight,” Hart said, noticing his word vomit. “But you can’t turn the clock back and turn it back to the mid-80s.”
Hart was on the tail end of calling back-to-back SEC Tournament games from 5:30 p.m. to after midnight ET on Wednesday.
Outfielder Enrique Bradfield was at bat during the exchange; he popped out to first base to end the inning.
Hart was a top finalist for the Atlanta Braves play-by-play gig this season, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, but Brandon Gaudin ended up landing the job.
Hart will have the same back-to-back schedule on Thursday and is expected to be in the booth for the remainder of the SEC Tournament.
He is scheduled to be in the booth again Friday and twice Saturday before wrapping up on Sunday with the SEC Tournament Championship.
The slip-up comes on the heels of MLB’s Oakland Athletics firing broadcaster Glen Kuiper, who uttered a racial slur when describing a trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum during a pregame segment prior the Oakland’s 12-8 win over the Royals on May 5.
Kuiper was suspended and offered a lengthy apology for the slip-up after his eventual firing, though his termination left him with some frustration.
“I wish the Oakland A’s and NBC Sports would have taken into consideration my 20-year career, my solid reputation, integrity, and character, but in this current environment traits like integrity and character are no longer considered,” he wrote. “I will always have a hard time understanding how one mistake in a 20-year broadcasting career is cause for termination but I know something better is in my future.”