The ability to throw a football at the professional level doesn’t automatically make one good at throwing a baseball, as Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love found out while throwing out the first pitch before the Milwaukee Brewers home game on Memorial Day this week.
Love said he didn’t give himself any warmup tosses and ended up just throwing the pitch like a football, which turned his thrown into more of a lob than a pitch. The Packers quarterback vowed his next first pitch would be better.
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“First pitch, it made it there. A little bit of a lob pass. Threw it like a football,” Love said after Wednesday’s OTA session. “Definitely need to get some more experience throwing a baseball. Get a little warmup next time, and I’ll be good. Next pitch will be better.”
A warmup might have helped — Love said he got caught up talking with players and Brewers staff before the pitch on Monday, so he ended up on the mound at American Family Field without any prior practice.
The throw — caught by Brewers star Christian Yelich — ended up slow and high and out of the zone. In fact, Yelich had to get out of his catcher’s stance to make the catch.
Love admitted it’s “been a while” since he’s thrown a baseball. He said he stopped playing baseball in middle school.
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“I’m just happy I got it there, didn’t skip it,” Love said.
Here’s the pitch from American Family Field:
While the throwing mechanics for football and baseball are similar, pitching a baseball typically requires a bigger stride and longer arm path. As the video shows, Love took a short stride, threw the ball completely over the top and released early, resulting in a slow, lobbed pitch.
But like Love said, at least he didn’t skip the throw or completely miss the target. At the end of the day, the ball ended up in the catcher’s glove. Disaster averted for the Packers quarterback. We’ll give this first pitch a 3/10, but it ranks nowhere near the worst of all time. Hopefully, Love gets another chance — at a Brewers game as the Packers quarterback — to make amends.
May 26, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love throws out a first pitch prior to the game between the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers Jordan Love first pitch Brewers game Memorial Day