Upon the name “Al Albuquerque” being name-dropped on his #1-rated WFAN radio program, host Mike Francesa quickly hung up on a caller earlier today, presuming he was the victim (yet again!) of some distasteful prank. SportsGrid’s Dan Fogarty provides the rest of this ridiculous tale ;
Mike Francesa, who prides himself on his encyclopedic knowledge of New York sports, wasn’t paying attention to a key moment in Tuesday night’s Yankee game. Alburquerque was brought in in the eighth inning, just as New York was looking to secure their Game 4 lead. He must have been watching.
Francesa got back on the radio, and cleared everything up.
You see, he was not aware that the caller was referring to Alberto José Alburquerque, the Detroit middle reliever with whom Francesa was certainly familiar with prior to five seconds ago, and who last night’s broadcasters steadfastly referred to as “Al Alburquerque” throughout the entirety of the pitcher’s eighth inning appearance.
That’s also the same Al Albuquerque who faced the New York Mets last June during a series broadcast on some obscure, low-wattage radio station called WFAN. During those games, the difficulty in cramming Albuquerque’s entire last name onto the back of a Tigers jersey was noted with some giggly accompaniment on the part of Howie Rose and Wayne Hagin, though again, we’re talking about sub-Pacifica level radio, not the sort of thing a big time guy like Mike Francesa can really be bothered with.