A drive into deep left field by Castellanos

"A drive into deep left field by Castellanos" is a phrase spoken by Thom Brennaman, a play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds, during a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals on August 19, 2020.

The surreal nature of the apology, as well as future incidents of Castellanos recording hits during other on-air broadcast discussions of negative events, gave it notoriety in baseball internet culture and has led to its use as a copypasta.

Before the start of the top of the seventh inning of the first game, Brennaman was caught on a hot mic describing an unidentified location as "one of the fag capitals of the world".

[8] Before being replaced by Jim Day, Brennaman issued an apology on the air:[9] 3–0 ballgame with the Reds in front of the Royals as we go to the top half of the fifth inning, Castellanos to lead things off.

[9]During the apology, Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos hit a home run that landed next to a Planet Fitness billboard, ironically with the phrase "judgement-free zone".

[15][16][17][18] Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David described the incident as "unfortunate" and "a reflection of the bias that we still have in our communities", stating that "I think we need to really think about how this is how he felt so comfortable [saying the slur] in the first place.

[12] Castellanos acknowledged the incident in a February 2023 Instagram post, which showed him practicing his swing in preparation for spring training and bore the caption "And there's a deep drive... Phillies '23".

[22] On that same day, Castellanos hit a home run, leading to the commentator of the game repeating Brennaman's famous phrase.

Awful Announcing quipped that "it's likely that Nick Castellanos would've hit a home run the same day" had the game taken place during the MLB season.

[24][25] Jokes incorporating the phrase "a drive into deep left field by Castellanos" began to circulate shortly after the broadcast, including a tweet by Pablo S. Torre that parodied Richard Nixon's resignation speech:[12][26] I have never been a quitter.

[40] 4 years ago, Thom Brennaman interrupted his apology for homophobic slur to call Nick Castellanos’ home run - retrospective