American broadcaster apologizes for insulting 'baseball IQ of some Canadians' on air

A Baltimore Orioles broadcast personality was in contrition mode Sunday after casting doubt on some Canadian fans’ baseball IQ during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays two days earlier.

“I hope that they will accept my sincere apology for what I said on the air the other day,” Orioles colour commentator Brian Roberts said during a Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) afternoon broadcast and shared to X by Luke Slabaugh.

“I definitely never, ever meant to cause anyone to feel like I was disrespecting them at all.”

The former 14-year pro second baseman’s mea culpa follows comments he made in the series opener at Rogers Centre on Friday night.

After a healthy cohort of the 35,367 fans booed a failed eight-inning first base pickoff attempt by Orioles’ reliever Shawn Dubin on the Jays’ Myles Straw, Roberts and his play-by-play colleague Kevin Brown opined on the fan reaction.

Brown said it’s “silly” that the move would draw a negative reaction and highlighted that the pickoff is now part of baseball’s disengagement rules meant to speed the game up, which only allow pitchers to step off the rubber twice per plate appearance.

“It’s like booing when a pitcher throws a ball,” Brown remarked to his colleague, in a clip shared by former Sportsnet host Sid Seixeiro.

“I gotta be real, real careful what I say,” Roberts replied, “but sometimes we had some major questions about the baseball IQ of some Canadians here and there.

“At times it felt like maybe they knew a little bit more about hockey than baseball.”

Baltimore Orioles TV broadcast last night questioned the intelligence of Canadian baseball fans after booing a pickoff attempt. pic.twitter.com/EtntH2JM5g

— Sid Seixeiro (@Sid_Seixeiro) September 13, 2025

After Brown advised him to “shut that down now” and they both shared a collegial laugh, Roberts asked: “We’re not on the air in Canada, are we?”

“There’s this thing called the Internet,” Brown reminded him.

“Oh, that’s right,” Roberts said as they returned to the game at hand, which ended in a 6-1 Jays’ win over American League East basement-dwelling Baltimore.

Asked about his remarks by the Toronto Star ahead of Saturday’s game — a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind Jays victory, their league-leading 45th this season — Roberts said it wasn’t “meant to be an insult.”

Rather, he said he was trying to make a point about the nations’ respective pastimes, hockey and baseball, and the comparative general levels of knowledge about both. The Florida resident, for instance, counts himself among Americans with low hockey IQ.

“I would say that there’s a decent amount of Canadians who would come to America that wouldn’t know a lot about baseball compared to a general amount of Americans that play baseball,” he said, admitting he isn’t sure such “generalities” are true..

Speaking to the Star , Infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa attested to a knowledgeable fanbase, as did first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who called Jays fans “the best in the world.”

Infielder Ernie Clement echoed his teammates’ sentiment and said he was “surprised” Roberts, who played his entire career in the American League East division, would feel that way.

“We get 40,000 a night here. I mean, they probably get 5,000 a night, so it makes sense that you’d be a little salty about that,” he said, alluding to low attendance at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. (The Orioles’ average attendance with only two weeks remaining is 22,357 per game, according to ESPN . The Jays’ is 34,647)

In his Sunday apology, which came during the fifth inning of what would turn out to be a runaway 11-2 win for the Blue Birds, Roberts said he’d always enjoyed the city during his playing career and now as a broadcaster.

The Brian Roberts apology.#Birdland | #BlueJays | @awfulannouncing pic.twitter.com/Kq1Rf6INa1

— Luke Slabaugh (@LukeSlabaugh) September 14, 2025

Brown then quipped about Roberts using the apology to announce his “candidacy for prime minister of Canada,” before agreeing that he, too, always looks forward to accompanying the Orioles on road trips to the home of Canada’s only MLB team.

After Sunday’s win, the Jays took a flight south to Tampa Bay for four straight against the Rays.

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