WFAN’s Sal Licata Rants About Hawk Tuah Girl

Hawk Tuah Girl, officially known as Hailey Welch, continued to embrace her growing fame on Thursday. WFAN host Sal Licata, however, was not pleased about it.

Welch gained popularity and her nickname in June following an appearance on the YouTube show, Tim & Dee TV. She threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Thursday’s game between the Oakland Athletics and New York Mets. Compared to past ceremonial first pitches at Citi Field, Hawk Tuah Girl’s effort was respectable. It certainly wasn’t bad.

Tim Healey, the Mets beat reporter for Newsday, mentioned on X that he was not allowed to say who threw out the first pitch. But Licata? He had no issues expressing his thoughts.

“The Yankees have Aaron Judge and Juan Soto breaking records,” Licata screamed, seemingly channeling his inner Mike Francesa, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, and Joe Benigno all at once. “Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig and the Mets have Grimace and now Hawk Tuah. Come on, bro, I can’t take it! I cannot take it anymore. It’s ridiculous. And then you wonder why fans get so ticked off and upset. It’s embarrassing. Is it the biggest deal in the world? No. Absolutely. Does it mean anything on the field? No. but that’s the problem. The product on the field isn’t good enough and you’re coming up with these silly gimmicks that are a laughingstock. It’s a joke. Hawk Tuah.”

His co-host, Brandon Tierney, laughed and responded, “I think I just want to talk about this the rest of the show.”

Tierney might be onto something. A conversation about Hawk Tuah Girl is a lot more interesting than one regarding the slumping Mets.