New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto (22) celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game two of the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images MLB free agency is in full swing, and MLB reporter Jon Heyman made it all about himself with a viral meltdown on WFAN.
While news of Shane Bieber returning to the Cleveland Guardians is great, the baseball world is anxiously awaiting where superstar free agent Juan Soto will land.
The New York Post’s top baseball columnist, Jon Heyman, appeared on WFAN and was asked about Soto’s free agency as host Keith McPherson joked that Heyman has a great relationship with agent Scott Boras.
“What’s the percentage of the Juan Soto contract that you’re going to get when you break the news on where he signs?” McPherson asked.
McPherson then went on to ask about Heyman’s infamous Aaron Judge typo tweet, where he accidentally tweeted that “Arson Judge” was heading to the San Francisco Giants. This was hilariously wrong, as Judge re-signed with the New York Yankees on a massive nine-year, $360 million deal. What’s funnier? Friday was the two-year anniversary of the infamous Arson Judge tweet.
But this line of questioning caused baseball’s top reporter to completely freak out on air. It was a meltdown of epic proportions.
After Heyman asked McPherson to drop it, he vowed to never return to his show ever again.
“This whole thing has been a disaster,” Heyman said of his interview. “I can’t even believe you said that, to question my integrity.”
McPherson clearly sounded like he thought his guest was joking at first, but in Heyman’s defense, the entire interview to this point was pretty awkward. Not sure it warranted a complete crashout of this caliber, but the host really was pushing one of the top insiders in baseball about his personal relationship with agents and the biggest miss of his career. It really did feel like the was hoping to get some sort of raise out of Heyman and it worked.
“I know you’re not a journalist; you don’t know anything about this,” Heyman told McPherson. “I’m done with you; I’m done with WFAN. I can’t even believe it.”
“He’s gotta get to bed,” McPherson replied.
Phew. One of the most iconic radio interviews we’ve had in quite some time happened on a random Friday night in December.
Let’s make a few things abundantly clear.
In the world of radio and sports media, dust-ups like this are actually more common than you might think. There are massive egos at play here. They usually don’t happen on live, public radio, but when we do, we have to be grateful to have heard them.
There’s no denying that Heyman has a long, documented history of working with Boras. While McPherson seemed to be joking about receiving financial incentives for covering his clients, you have to understand why that struck a nerve with a journalist who felt like his integrity was being questioned.
If we’re calling balls and strikes, the entire interview was a little bit cringey, and the crashout at the end of it just took the cake.
Deadspin reached out to Heyman for a comment on this bizarre situation but didn’t receive an immediate response.
