With the stretch run of the MLB season upon us, Jimmy Kimmel hosted “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville and his star pitcher of a son for a little backyard baseball this week.
As Reggie Jackson said, it’s that time of year when “they change the baseball to a golf ball, the game gets faster, speeds up, the mound closer, the walls close in, lights get brighter, the lamps hotter.”
And so it was that Knoxville took his son on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to show the world what he has.
“Johnny, we have spared no expense to create this uhh, this baseball-type situation in our alley, here,” Kimmel said during the segment for Monday night’s show.
As Kimmel explained, Knoxville’s son Rocco joined the show to pitch to his father in a makeshift batting cage behind the Hollywood studio of Kimmel’s show. Makeshift translates here as open-air with an existing parking-lot fence on one side, a brick wall on the other, a pitcher’s batting-practice screen to protect Rocco and a small backstop behind the bat-wielding Knoxville, Kimmel and an umpire.
Luckily for all involved, Knoxville did not wield the bat with an expert’s touch.
“Johnny’s son Rocco is a 12-year-old pitcher,” Kimmel said before the at-bat kicked off. “He’s got quite an arm.”
Kimmel compared the situation to when he realizes his son can outdo him in a certain skill or feat or “beat me up, but also strike me out. So we want to see if Rocco can strike his dad out.”
“We may be at that day,” replied Knoxville, who at 51 and 6-foot-1 did not appear to be much taller than his son.
“I want to say before we start this, the sun is in my eyes,” Knoxville said, pointing down the alley, before joking, “My son is in my eyes.”
For Knoxville’s sake, he seemed to have his eyes closed — the one time he swung. And for good reason. Rocco Knoxville appears to have a bright future on the mound.
While Rocco pitched to his father, Kimmel took his place behind the makeshift plate as the catcher, wearing only a catcher’s mask, a mitt and his usual tie, shirt and slacks.
“I am not wearing a cup, by the way,” Kimmel said.
Rocco started things out with a fastball up and quite a bit outside. The second pitch was at Knoxville’s waist and also a bit outside but called a strike.
For the third pitch, Rocco let his dad have it, going right at his chin, which caught Knoxville off guard, but he was still able to jump out of the way.
“Oh ho, ho, man!” Knoxville said. “Jesus!”
But the at-bat continued. And three pitches later, Knoxville took a valiant swing after claiming he was going to “put it on La Brea,” a few blocks away.
But the “Jackass” star had no chance. And Mighty Johnny had struck out.
“That was legit,” Knoxville said repeating himself, not surprised. “That was a legit K.”
Watch the entire segment at the top of this post, including a guest appearance by Knoxville’s daughter, who suggested Rocco throw at his dad’s ribs — after flirting with his head.
