John Kruk Suggests He’d Been Drinking Before Comically Horrendous At Bat Against Randy Johnson

Philadelphia Phillies play-by-play man John Kruk suggested on Thursday that he had been drinking before his comically inept at bat against Randy Johnson in the 1993 MLB All-Star Game.

During the game at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Kruk, a left-handed batter, faced the flame-throwing southpaw for the first time in his career. On the first pitch, Johnson whizzed the ball over the head of Kruk, who strolled away from the batter’s box, tapped on his heart, and breathed a heavy sigh. On the next pitch, Kruk took a fastball for strike one. On pitches three and four, he waved at two sliders on the outside part of the plate, doing so half-heartedly with one hand while spinning around in some sort of poor man’s pirouette.

During Thursday’s NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast of the Phillies-Mets game, Kruk and play-by-play man Tom McCarthy spoke with Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and George Brett, the latter of whom brought up Johnson and told Kruk, “I saw your at bat against him. I had to face him.”

“I could’ve been a little tipsy that day,” Kruk replied.

“You could’ve called in sick,” Schmidt replied.

“I thought I was gonna call in dead,” Kruk deadpanned, suggesting he had been partying the night before the game.

“I could have been a little tipsy that day” – John Kruk on his infamous All-Star Game at-bat against Randy Johnson

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— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) June 18, 2026 at 7:36 PM

Not surprisingly, Johnson, a lefty who stood 6’10 and regularly hit 100 miles per hour, was extremely difficult to hit against, especially for left-handed batters.

Four years after the 1993 All-Star Game, Larry Walker, another left-handed batter, faced Johnson. During the plate appearance, Walker put his helmet on backward and switched around to bat right-handed. He ended up walking.

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