Motown legend Martha Reeves definitely brought some added attention to the start of the new Women’s Professional Baseball League over the weekend.
Just probably not in the way she intended.
Reeves’ performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner” prior to the first pitch quickly went viral for all the wrong reasons, with some online feeling like it was among the worst performances of the national anthem in recent memory.
the legendary Motown group Martha and the Vandellas. (Photo:
Signed Media screenshot / YouTube)
Online users quickly criticized Reeves’ rendition of the national anthem, as some even questioned why she was allowed to perform.
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“That is so so sad,” X user @BrickTop06 wrote. “Martha is my (No. 1 ’60s) soul singer and one of my all time favorites overall. She’s 85 and someone around her needed to have advised her not to do this, it’s awful.”
However, Reeves provided an explanation for why things went so poorly on Saturday.
“Having just celebrated my 85th birthday, I’ve learned a great deal over more than 60 years of performing live,” Reeves told TMZ.
“It was an incredible honor to be invited to perform at the inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League event and to help celebrate such a historic moment for women in sports. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
“The field conditions were wet and windy, and without stage monitors I wasn’t able to hear myself as I normally would,” Reeves explained. “While it wasn’t the performance I had hoped for, I’m grateful to have been there in support of these remarkable athletes and this groundbreaking league.”
Video of Reeves’ awkward national anthem performance can be seen below.
Reeves, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, gained notoriety in the ’60s as the lead singer for group “Martha Reeves & the Vandellas.”
Reeves was in attendance for the inaugural game of the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL), which has four teams (New York Heights, San Francisco Firebells, Los Angeles Queens and Boston Hunters). It was the first women’s professional game to take place in the United States in 70 years.
Philadelphia native Mo’ne Davis, whose celebrity grew in 2014 when she was one of two girls to compete in the Little League World Series, plays for the Los Angeles Queens. The first 1,000 fans in attendance received Davis bobbleheads.
Despite the shaky national anthem performance, it was overall a successful debut for the WPBL; the Queens defeated New York 10-8.
While they would likely never admit it publicly, the league owners are probably not mad that Reeves got everyone talking about their first game.
