Liam Hendriks Came to the All-Star Game to Do Two Things: Throw Heat and Curse Like a Sailor

Fox's broadcast of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game was innovative and acceptably intrusive as players signed off on wearing microphones out on the field. The constant communication yielded some great moments — Freddie Freeman complimenting Aaron Judge's teeth and Fernando Tatis Jr. marveling as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. blasted a baseball halfway to Tahoe — in addition to some tense ones for any execs worried about FCC fines. Most of the latter came in the ninth inning as Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks was tasked with recording the final three outs.

Like the bad guy in The Snowman, the hard-throwing righthander left all the clues that such a gambit might yield profane moments. Who could forget the moment last month when he called Baltimore's Freddy Galvis a "slapdick MFer"? The Australian hurler delivered on the promise Tuesday, cursing on consecutive pitches like a more athletic version of the dad from A Christmas Story.

A decent payoff. And really, not a big deal, because parents should just assume their kids are hearing such language all day, every day if not supervised.

Getting natural sound from players on the field is a tremendous idea. Getting it from pitchers, though, will prove to be a tough task. It's not like the booth can have any type of conversation there as the mental bandwidth simply isn't available. On the other hand, it's a great way to court the grunting enthusiasts. Absolutely no one grunts like a pitcher trying to get an extra bit of giddyup on a heater.