AN Atlanta Braves sideline reporter has been criticized for a live TV interview with a female fan.
Braves sideline reporter Wiley Ballard hosted a segment called The Field Report, where he interviewed two fans in attendance at an MLB game on Monday night.
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During the top of the fifth inning of the game between the Braves and the home team Toronto Blue Jays, Ballard questioned two women in attendance, Lauren and Kayla.
Ballard asked the women some cliche questions about rooting for the Braves and how often they visited the rooftop patio inside Rogers Centre.
But then the interaction took a turn when Braves announcer Brandon Gaudin said, “Okay, Wiley. You got five innings – four innings – to get the numbers.”
“I’m on it,” Ballard replied before he then asked the two ladies, “Alright, so they want me to get your number,” as he pulled out his phone for Lauren, the woman on his left.
The broadcast booth cracked up laughing before the woman responded, “They wanted you to get my number?”
Ballard answered, “I’m dead serious, they’re saying in my ear right now… She doesn’t believe me because she thinks you guys are making this up. I might use that in the future, that’s a pretty good move.”
“This is unbelievable,” Gaudin said, before Ballard later added, “I should have thought of this years ago.”
The sequence drew a laugh from Lauren as she put her number on his phone.
The moment went viral thanks to an X post from Fox 5 Atlanta’s Miles Garrett, which has gotten 2.6 million views and counting as of Tuesday morning.
However, plenty of social media users shared their displeasure at the moment, believing Ballard was unprofessional and inappropriate for someone in his role.
“If I had ever done anything close to this, my career would be over. This is…flabbergasting,” Newsday writer Laura Albanese wrote.
“This is absolutely gross,” a second commented.
“Aside from being INSANELY unprofessional – seriously, imagine the outrage if a female reporter had done the same thing – this is incredibly f***ing creepy and not at all cute,” a third said.
“This is not the standard,” a fourth added.
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Nonetheless, Ballard put together a playful post on X, sharing an image from the iconic movie Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon’s character, Will Hunting, taunts a man he met at a bar.
Damon slaps a napkin with a woman’s number on the glass and yells to the man, “Do you like apples? Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?”
Ballard did receive some praise for his efforts, as one wrote, “Hysterical and fantastic work.”
“If that doesn’t win you an Emmy, what are we even doing.”
The Braves won 8-4 in Toronto and now have a 5-11 record in the season.