Fred Warner completely botches first pitch at SF Giants' home opener
By Peter Panacy
![San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner attends the San Francisco Giants game San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner attends the San Francisco Giants game](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3000,h_1687,x_0,y_629/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/42/01htr4bwfeg3qrt0evyg.jpg)
The Giants welcomed 49ers players to their Opening Day ceremonies, but Fred Warner clearly needs some work on his pitching arm.
The San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants have a longstanding tradition of sending their top stars to each other's games.
It's not difficult to catch Hall of Famers Joe Montana or Jerry Rice rocking the orange and black, while plenty of the Giants' own stars have made appearances at Niners games over the years, too, particularly back in the early 2010s when the Giants were winning the World Series every other year.
Hoping to capitalize on the 49ers' recent run of success, the Giants invited some of the Niners' top talent to their Opening Day pregame ceremonies at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Including All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel and All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner.
Invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, Samuel and Warner were tasked with at least getting the baseball close to Giants assistant coaches, Matt Williams and Pat Burrell.
Samuel's throw was off the mark, but not horribly. Warner's pitch, however, completely missed its intended target.
Badly.
Check out the live footage:
Fred Warner and Deebo Samuel threw out the ceremonial first pitches ⚾
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 5, 2024
#BayAreaUnite pic.twitter.com/VmYvX4wVHc
Burrell caught Samuel's throw, but Williams never had a chance.
To quote the legendary Bob Uecker from the hit baseball movie, Major League, "Juuuuust a bit outside."
Warner probably isn't going to find himself on any spring training invitee list anytime soon.
Mitch Wishnowsky launches 1st Opening Day 'first punt'
Not to be outdone by Samuel and Warner's shenanigans, Niners punter Mitch Wishnowsky took to the pregame festivities by punting a football over the right field wall at Oracle Park for a "splash punt" into McCovey Cove.
A ceremonial "first punt" of the 2024 MLB season sure seems fitting, and Wishnowsky nailed it:
Ceremonial first punt courtesy of Mitch Wishnowsky 🏈 @49ers | #BayAreaUnite pic.twitter.com/mg87nQLZgU
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 5, 2024
Related story: The 5 best Bay Area athletes in Northern California history
This needs to be a thing every year.
As for the 49ers' home openers, perhaps some of the Giants' own stars can come out for pregame field-goal tries, football tosses and tackle drills.
Or they can just sound the foghorn. That'd be OK, too. And probably less embarrassing.
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