Morgan Wallen and former MLB star José Bautista tried having a moment before the country star took the stage Friday night at Rogers Centre in Toronto for Night 2 of his I’m the Problem Tour.
As he’s done throughout his 20-stadium tour, Wallen walks out with an iconic figure connected to the city or venue he’s playing. In this case, the “Whiskey Glasses” crooner walked out with the former Toronto Blue Jays star.
The video shows the duo walking together, with Bautista holding a baseball bat. With lights and cameras rolling, Bautista hands Wallen the bat. As if on cue, Wallen swings the bat and tosses it, imitating Bautista’s epic bat flip produced Oct. 14, 2015, when Bautista crushed a go-ahead three-run blast against the Texas Rangers in Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series Playoffs. Bautista’s bat flip is so iconic that it immediately etched his name in Blue Jays lore.
Well, Wallen attempted to do his best Bautista impression, and he nailed it. Except the bat toss inadvertently hit Bautista’s wife, Neisha, who was filming to the side when the bat was hurled her way.
“Oh, sh–t,” Neisha exclaimed after the bat hit her. “Damn, that [hurt].”
Neisha took it in stride. She reacted on her Instagram Story with laughing and face with peaking eye emojis. She overlayed the video with the text, “When Morgan Wallen bat flips your husband’s bat and hits you.”
So, all good!
The entire thing also may have been staged.
One commented, “She put crying laughing faces in her story. Her husband initiated it with Morgan. Stop making it something it’s not. He never even looked. He should have asked if she’s ok but I think he was running on stage.”
If you look closely, as Bautista hands the bat to Wallen, he leans over and whispers something in his ear. Wallen nods in agreement, winds up the bat, and then peeks over his right shoulder exactly in Neisha’s direction, as if that’s where he intends to toss the bat.
Next comes the swing and, of course, the bat flip.
Some fans were genuinely concerned about Neisha’s safety. One commented, “No way? Is she ok? Bats hurt a lot and that bat was thrown hard!”
Someone quipped, “‘Shouldn’t have been standing there’ – Happy Gilmore.”
