Major League Baseball

Reporter awkwardly compares Prince Fielder to Lou Gehrig at retirement presser

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:07 p.m. ET

Dan Carson

Texas Rangers slugger Prince Fielder retired from MLB on Wednesday, ending his career due to chronic neck issues.

Fielder thanked fans and friends for their support over the years and ended his press conference with a cool mic drop.

But right before said drop, there was this ... weird ... Lou Gehrig question — from a reporter who compared Fielder's retirement from baseball due to neck issues to Yankees great Lou Gehrig's retirement due to a life-threatening illness.

Toward the end of the proceedings, reporter asked Fielder if he "sort of understands what Lou Gehrig was going through in his famous speech."

#PrinceFielder asked if he "sort of understands what Lou Gehrig was going through in his famous speech" #Rangers pic.twitter.com/DOiohj2XXX
— mfr24 (@mfr234) August 10, 2016

Fielder answered in the only way appropriate.

"... what?"

For reference, the Lou Gehrig speech was the tearful retirement address the Yankees first baseman gave in 1939 after being diagnosed with ALS — a degenerative nerve disease.

So this was either an incredibly tone-deaf question from the reporter, or, judging by the mid-sentence laughter, a reporter asking a garbage question on a dumb bet.

If it was a gag — good joke, man. Hope you had fun with that.

Dan is on Twitter. "What?" is right.