Linda Cohn’s short-lived home run catchphrase did not quite make it out of the batter’s box.
The longtime ESPN anchor revealed on Rich Eisen’s “This Was SportsCenter” that she once tried to debut a very risky “SportsCenter” line for baseball highlights, only for ex-ESPN executive Norby Williamson to shut it down almost immediately.
“Whenever I was doing highlights, the pressure of trying to think of a catchphrase,” Cohn said during the podcast appearance. “I had bounced this off a friend of mine who lived in North Carolina. She did graphics, she was in the business. And I said, ‘I have an idea for a catchphrase.’”
Cohn said the idea came from trying to find something to say when sluggers like Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza or Barry Bonds went yard.
“When a guy is up at bat and he hits a home run, because you were so great with home run calls, I think I have an idea for a home run call and a catchphrase over a highlight,” Cohn continued. “Whether it’s Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds, as soon as they’re on the highlight, hit a ball that obviously was going to be a home run, I would say, ‘Mike Piazza: master batter.’”
The catchphrase didn’t last very long.
“It was an open-and-shut case,” Cohn said. “It was a Broadway show that opened, one show, and closed the same time because Norby Williamson called me in and he goes, ‘What made you think that that was a good idea?’”
Cohn said she told Williamson she thought the line would be funny.
“Well, don’t ever do that again,” Cohn recalled Williamson saying. “And that was the end of the conversation.”
Cohn has served as a “SportsCenter” anchor since 1992.
Eisen had previously anchored the show from 1996-2003 before leaving the company for NFL Network.
He has twice since returned to the host chair for ESPN’s flagship show, having most recently gone on the air in April.
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