Tampa Bay Rays broadcaster appears to hope for injury to Judge, Stanton

Tampa Bay Rays broadcaster Dave Wills was caught Monday night appearing to hope that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton’s injuries flare up.

There is no excuse for what Tampa Bay Rays radio broadcaster Dave Wills was caught saying about Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on Monday night.

How about the Rays’ radio broadcast wishing injury on Judge and Stanton? Fuck this guy pic.twitter.com/cgd7hbi4nS

— Stanzo (@ncostanzo24) October 6, 2020

And in case you don’t want to click that link, here’s the exact quote:

“I’ll tell you what if you’re the Rays, again you want to see Aaron Judge trying to sprint and break- and prevent a double play. You want to see that from Stanton. Maybe they get some of those recurring leg issues that they’ve had in the past bounce back again.”

Absolutely classless. You never hope for an injury to a player. Even if they are the team standing in your way come the playoffs. Baseball is Judge and Stanton’s livelihood. Good players get injured and are never the same again. Judge in particular still has yet to receive his big payday. If he got hurt, it could seriously impact the financial security of him and his family going forward.

Now, I get the general sentiment. If you’re the Rays, you’d rather not see Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup. Either one of them could bury you with one swing in exactly the way the did it last night. And it certainly wouldn’t hurt your chances of winning if one or both couldn’t be in the lineup.

But to hope that Judge or Stanton aggravates a leg injury while running out a ground ball is absolutely classless. Shame on Dave Wills for this statement. Understand that these are human beings, not just statistics for the other team.

Be better, Dave.