On Monday night, my two favorite sports teams, Columbus Crew SC and the Cleveland Indians, came together as Black & Gold midfielder Ethan Finlay was given the honor of throwing out the first pitch before the Tribe’s 15-6 throttling of the Cincinnati Reds. Finlay, a Brewers fan from Wisconsin, had been looking forward to attending the baseball battle for his adopted state of Ohio. When the time came for his big moment, Finlay added some flash to the proceedings by dropping the ball to his foot, then kicking it back up into his pitching hand as part of a unique delivery to home plate.
Later that night, I caught up with Finlay to chat about the thing that I’m so jealous he got to do.
SIRK: So…that move. You drop kicked the ball back into your pitching hand, then threw to the plate. When did you dream that up and how hard did you practice it beforehand?
FINLAY: I had it in my mind. I didn’t actually practice. Hector [Jimenez] and I were out there on the field for batting practice and hung out with some of the guys, and I didn’t even touch a ball. We were just in conversation. Before I knew it, it was 5:30 and I was making my way back down to the field. I had it in my mind that I might try it and once I got down there, I tried it once or twice in the tunnel area. When I got on the mound, I tried it one more time, and then I thought, “Do I just go with one, or do I try to do it couple of times?” I was able to do it a couple times, where I got 2-3 juggles in (back in the tunnel), but the risk of it goes up, obviously, when doing that. But it was fun. It added a little bit of the soccer element to my first pitch, so I thought it was unique.
SIRK: That’s impressive that you only tried it a couple of times in the tunnel and then pulled it off on the mound. I thought maybe you were practicing that all weekend or something.
FINLAY: No, it was really only in the last 30 minutes before I went out there. I thought about it, and thought feet might be tough, so I was going to do some knee juggles, but feet is what we use, so I went with the feet. If I’m going to do it, that’s what I should use. I think it took a little of the velocity off my throw. At that point, I just wanted to combine the two together and get it over the plate. I know Hector said it was a little outside, but I told him it was more of a curveball to a right-handed hitter, so it was a strike.
SIRK: What did [Indians centerfielder] Tyler Naquin have to say as you walked off the field, since he was your catcher?
FINLAY: I didn’t tell him I was doing it, so I think he was a little surprised by it. He said nice job and he signed the ball for me. It’s nice. I’ll display it in the house. With all the game balls, I’ll have a nice first pitch baseball in there. It was a cool thing to be a part of, and he made me look good. He probably could have got out of his stance, but he didn’t have to move too much.
SIRK: You and [Indians catcher] Yan Gomes swapped jerseys before the game. He’s from Brazil, so did you guys talk soccer any?
FINLAY: Absolutely. We talked a lot of soccer, actually. Like you said, he’s from Brazil and he supported Santos when he was younger and he still does. He’s a Crew fan as well, ever since he came to the Indians back in 2013. He’s been a fan, and with us only being two hours down the road, and he wants his kids to play soccer. He definitely follows the sport and we talked a bit about MLS Cup. He wasn’t able to make it because he was in Nashville for something, but he was quite bummed as he had been following us all through our playoff run there. He continued to talk about the game and he knew the players on our team, so I don’t think he’s a fairweather fan by any means.
SIRK: So are you claiming any good luck for the three-run homer that he hit a few hours later?
FINLAY: Hey, you know what? It was a heck of a game. We had a lot of fun. We really did. I’m not going to claim any luck. I told him to have a good game. [Indians third baseman] Juan Uribe didn’t have a bad game either, and he and Hector were hitting it off. They had probably a good 20-minute conversation. I don’t know. We might have had something to do with how well the guys played, but we’re not going to take full credit, that’s for sure.
SIRK: Speaking of Hector, was he there as your personal pitching coach?
FINLAY: Hector’s been my loyal friend and loyal teammate, and he’s the one guy on our team that has experience throwing out the first pitch at a Major League game. He threw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game a few years back. He did have some pointers for me.
SIRK: What pointers did he have?
FINLAY: He said get it over the plate, and when you’re throwing from the mound, give it a little more loft. I didn’t even tell him, so he didn’t know anything about the kick. He was a little bit impressed. He said, “I can’t believe you pulled it off. Or even tried it.” I tried to set myself apart.
SIRK: So did you get to meet any of the other guys or go to the clubhouse?
FINLAY: Yeah, like I said, we were down on the field for BP and just enjoyed the view. The ballpark has had some nice renovations. The new video screen is fantastic. It was just so cool the stuff they were able to do. We took that all in and we were able to meet a couple of the other guys. It was definitely really cool because there is a Latino culture. And Yan Gomes was also telling us that Corey Kluber and some of the other pitchers, before we got there for BP, they were out there juggling the ball and playing around in the outfield a little bit and playing a little keepaway. So it’s cool that they find a little fun in playing our sport and they made it fun for us.
SIRK: I remember former Crew and Indians sideline reporter Katie Witham telling me that [Indians second baseman] Jason Kipnis holds some sort of high school goal scoring record. [Note: He scored 41 goals as a freshman at Glenbrook North high school in Northbrook, IL, which is the school’s single-season record.]
FINLAY: Really? He’s second base, right? Yeah, they said that. He came by briefly on his way into the clubhouse. They told us that he was a soccer player. That’s cool.
SIRK: Do you think you would have fared better on the mound in the game tonight than the Reds did after allowing 15 runs?
FINLAY: [Laughs.] Uhhhh….I don’t know. But hey, the way [Indians pitcher Cody] Anderson started, I was a little bit nervous, but he ended up turning it around. I wouldn’t say that I would have done any better than the Reds. I might have walked less batters. Or more batters. I don’t know. I think the Indians would have beat me up tonight if I’m being honest with myself.
SIRK: Maybe you would have thrown them off balance with the kick move before each pitch.
FINLAY: I don’t think that’s a legal move. They might have called me for a balk on that.
SIRK: Any other moments that stand out before I let you go?
FINLAY: Really, just that the Indians gave us this opportunity. It shows that Ohio sports can have that kind of connection. At the end of the day, we’re all in the same state and we’re all trying to pull all these fans together. For us to be on the same page and to collaborate together was cool and very special. Obviously, they gave me a jersey and we got Yan a jersey. They gave us a whole bunch of Indians gear, like hats and all that, and we repaid the same thing with some hats. Baseball guys love hats, so we had 20-something hats for their guys, plus some scarves for some people. It was cool to collaborate with the Indians, so thank you to those guys and to their whole organization.
