Kyle Tait is a man of many talents. He knows a ton about the Atlanta Braves, he has a terrific voice, and he has a solid Twitter account especially if you like baseball.

Tait isn’t a professional baseball player, but he has a good eye for the strike zone. Even when his baby’s gender reveal is on the line, Tait knows when to lay off a bad pitch.

I know Kyle well and this was classic Kyle fashion. The two of us caught up to talk about what on earth was going through his head when his wife threw too far inside and more.

David Lauterbach: Okay let’s get this out of the way: why didn’t you swing?

Kyle Tait: A lot of thoughts went through my head as that ball dropped.  First, I wanted to wait on it to drop into the strike zone, then it dropped in on my hands and I couldn’t get barrel on the ball. And the thought never even crossed my mind that it would break when it hit the ground or to catch it before it fell.  I just did what I used to do in baseball… I took the pitch and waited for the next one.  But there wasn’t a next one.

 

DL: See that’s key there, you did what you always did basically even if it was a bad pitch. I know you didn’t have a ton of time to react, but did you ever think about swinging when the ball was in the air?

KT: I was geared to swing the whole time until it was a bad pitch.  I took about 20 practice swings on a whiffle ball before the video started, but the one that counted was just a bad pitch that I didn’t think I could do anything with.

 

DL: Where exactly did you want it?

KT: Anywhere from the belt to the knees.  Drop the barrel, put a little Griffey upward plane swing on it.

 

DL: What was going through your head before the pitch?

KT: All week as friends and family heard what we were doing for a reveal, they kept saying “Don’t swing and miss!” So my main thought was “Whatever you do, don’t whiff.”  I was 100% certain I wouldn’t… until I saw the bad pitch.  And let’s be honest, I’d much rather go viral for taking a pitch than whiffing on one.

 

DLI don’t blame you at all for that. Swinging and missing would’ve been much much worse. Who was more nervous and/or worried about the pitch going into it?

KT: My wife was definitely more nervous.  She just wanted to get it in a hittable spot. And we were so convinced it was a boy, the fact it was pink didn’t even register until 5-10 seconds later.  We were both more upset about the bad pitch than the gender… hence the delayed, “It’s a girl!”

 

DL: Not surprised she was more nervous at all seeing as the success (or lack there of the pitch) was all one her. Did you ever talk with your wife about recreating it to get a good pitch?

KT: No, the thought never crossed our mind.  We both looked at each other and said, “Well, that’s about right for our relationship” and started laughing with friends and family about it.

 

DL: What has the reaction been like since the video? Did you ever think it would go as viral as it did?

KT: The reaction has been way beyond anything we could have imagined.  Half of responders say “That was a hittable pitch, swing at everything!” and told me to channel my inner Vlad Guerrero.  The other half say “Way to work the count!” and say Billy Beane would be proud.

 

DL: Who came up with this whole stunt? Were there any other baseball related ideas?

KT: We weren’t really big on the whole “gender reveal” idea that seems to be blowing up these days.  I’d never even been to one.  But a few years ago, we saw Freddie Freeman and his wife do this type of reveal and I loved the idea of a blue or pink powder explosion.

From there, we always planned on doing one whenever we had our first kid.  Of course, we never could have imagined it turning out this way and going viral for it.  Not bad for a couple people who aren’t all that into gender reveals.

 

DL: How do you plan on telling your daughter about this?

KT: No idea.  Right now we’re just trying to get to December and learn how to be parents.  Walking, talking, and listening to the story of her pre-birth Internet fame seem so far down the road.  It’s going to be a great story though, however we tell it.

 

DL: Well from everyone at The Comeback, congrats!

About David Lauterbach

David is a writer for The Comeback. He enjoyed two Men's Basketball Final Four trips for Syracuse before graduating in 2016. If The Office or Game of Thrones is on TV, David will be watching.