You're tuned to the good stuff

50s Baseball Broadcast

Saturday Night LiveSNL
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.

The setup

A baseball commentator’s new cold medicine turns a routine Yankees broadcast into a stream of outrageous claims that his partner struggles to contain.

Community rating

– / 10

The premise

Here’s the bit.

At Yankee Stadium in 1951, Lyle O’Riley tries to call a Yankees game with former player Diz Newsome. Diz has treated a cold with methamphetamine and is far more interested in insulting players, discussing their private lives and interrupting the action than describing the game.

Lyle repeatedly corrects his partner and turns to sponsor announcer Walt Hall for relief. A warning from the station manager fails to stop Diz from telling an impossible story about Babe Ruth, and even the sponsor breaks from his script when the commentary takes another turn.

The funny people

Meet the cast. 3

Say it with us

Highly quotable.

I kind of want to hear this.

ScriptEnglish · 63 turns

Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.

  1. 00:01

    Lyle O'Riley

    No score as we head into the bottom of the third. Yankees White Sox, Lyle O'Reilly for WNYX Radio alongside Hall of Famer Diz Newsome. Gorgeous day for a ball game.

  2. 00:15

    Diz Newsome

    It is.

  3. 00:16

    Lyle O'Riley

    Before we get back to the action on the field, let's go to Walt Hall for a word from our sponsors. Walt?

  4. 00:25

    Walt Hall

    WNYX Yankees coverage is brought to you by Schmackman's Department Store. Hey, where'd you get that plain brown suit? and plain brown hat, why, schmackments, of course. Now, back to the ball game.

  5. 00:37

    Lyle O'Riley

    Thank you, Walt. Diz, glad you made it in today. I understand you were feeling a little under the weather this morning?

  6. 00:45

    Diz Newsome

    Oh, yeah, uh, stuffy head, sore throat, the works. So luckily, my doctor prescribed me this new cold medicine called methamphetamine. Yeah, it just did knock my cold right out.

  7. 01:00

    Lyle O'Riley

    well glad you're feeling better

  8. 01:02

    Diz Newsome

    oh I'm excited I'm feeling chatty like I could talk about everything forever

  9. 01:06

    Lyle O'Riley

    all right well sounds like this methamphetamine medicine did the trick and Jean Woodling comes to the plate 15 for 25 this season against lefty pitchers

  10. 01:17

    Diz Newsome

    I mean not bad for an alcoholic

  11. 01:19

    Lyle O'Riley

    all right don't say that

  12. 01:21

    Diz Newsome

    did you seen Woodlings wife mama me okay 22 years old the tush on that woman. I mean, like a soldier's haircut. High and tight.

  13. 01:34

    Lyle O'Riley

    All right, let's not talk about another man's wife like that, Diz, and here's the pitch.

  14. 01:43

    Diz Newsome

    Except it's not pot

  15. 01:45

    Lyle O'Riley

    fly directly over home plate.

  16. 01:48

    Diz Newsome

    You know what? I'm gonna take another cold pill so I don't get stuffy.

  17. 01:52

    Lyle O'Riley

    Okay, sounds good, Diz. Jolting Joe DiMaggio is headed to the plate, or should I say Mr. Marilyn Monroe.

  18. 02:02

    Diz Newsome

    I mean, how the hell did Joe DiMaggio, the ugliest son of a bitch in baseball, snag that broad?

  19. 02:09

    Lyle O'Riley

    All right, watch the language, Diz.

  20. 02:11

    Diz Newsome

    I mean, you know he's Italian, right?

  21. 02:14

    Lyle O'Riley

    Okay.

  22. 02:15

    Diz Newsome

    Italians aren't even whites.

  23. 02:17

    Lyle O'Riley

    Okay. Please don't say that, Diz. And here's the pitch. Line drive past third.

  24. 02:26

    Diz Newsome

    It is not. It is not.

  25. 02:30

    Lyle O'Riley

    but DiMaggio easily makes it to first

  26. 02:34

    Diz Newsome

    oh yeah question how much money would you pay to sniff Marilyn Monroe's bed sheets

  27. 02:42

    Lyle O'Riley

    okay I'm not gonna answer that cuz that is inappropriate

  28. 02:46

    Diz Newsome

    oh no it's not inappropriate would be something like how do you fit four hookers onto a chair you turn it upside down

  29. 02:54

    Lyle O'Riley

    Oh, my God! No, Danz, how about a sponsor I.D., Walt?

  30. 03:04

    Walt Hall

    Today's coverage is brought to you by Mitchum, the businessman scotch.

  31. 03:11

    Lyle O'Riley

    Thank you, Walt. One out, runner on first, and rookie Mickey Mantle is coming to the plate.

  32. 03:19

    Diz Newsome

    Another boar's hound.

  33. 03:20

    Lyle O'Riley

    All right, a lot of folks are saying I'm saying this kid's power reminds them of a young Babe Ruth.

  34. 03:26

    Diz Newsome

    I mean, you heard the story about Babe Ruth in Cleveland, right?

  35. 03:32

    Diz Newsome

    Ah, they told me not to tell the story about Babe Ruth. It's a real shame because it's wild.

  36. 03:42

    Lyle O'Riley

    Okay, maybe lay off that cold medicine, Diz. Mantles squaring up at the plate.

  37. 03:49

    Diz Newsome

    Ah, what the hell, right? Okay, so Ruth's on the road in Cleveland.

  38. 03:53

    Lyle O'Riley

    Pitch is low by one.

  39. 03:55

    Diz Newsome

    I mean, it's about midnight after the game. Babe is drunk as a skunk Looking for what else? Horse and hot dogs

  40. 04:02

    Lyle O'Riley

    Please stop and right winds up

  41. 04:04

    Diz Newsome

    Okay, so nothing's open And Babe is starving

  42. 04:08

    Lyle O'Riley

    The pitch, ball two

  43. 04:09

    Diz Newsome

    So he sees this little street agent kid About ten years old And Babe Ruth, uh, he ate him

  44. 04:18

    Lyle O'Riley

    No No He did not

  45. 04:22

    Diz Newsome

    Babe Ruth was so hungry

  46. 04:25

    Lyle O'Riley

    Nope

  47. 04:25

    Diz Newsome

    That he ate a child alive.

  48. 04:28

    Lyle O'Riley

    No, he did not. And that is ball three.

  49. 04:32

    Diz Newsome

    He did.

  50. 04:33

    Lyle O'Riley

    He did not.

  51. 04:33

    Diz Newsome

    He did close it off.

  52. 04:35

    Lyle O'Riley

    No. Babe Ruth was famously kind to children. Three and O's the count.

  53. 04:43

    Diz Newsome

    Well, he ate one.

  54. 04:44

    Lyle O'Riley

    No.

  55. 04:45

    Diz Newsome

    If you're listening to this, and you're in your car, and you're stuck in traffic, I have an idea. Just gun it.

  56. 04:55

    Lyle O'Riley

    Don't do that.

  57. 04:56

    Diz Newsome

    Just slam the gas and see what happens.

  58. 05:00

    Lyle O'Riley

    No, he's joking. Don't do that.

  59. 05:02

    Diz Newsome

    I'm not.

  60. 05:03

    Lyle O'Riley

    Bowl four. Bases loaded.

  61. 05:06

    Diz Newsome

    Uh, you know, I have some observations on different races.

  62. 05:09

    Lyle O'Riley

    No, no, no. Let's hear from our sponsor.

  63. 05:14

    Walt Hall

    I kind of want to hear this.

The rabbit hole continues

One more couldn’t hurt.

More from across the archive.

Explore the show