Haliey Welch, famously known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” was the special guest of the New York Mets on Thursday, where she threw out the ceremonial first pitch before their game against the Oakland Athletics. Welch, a Tennessee native, gained internet fame for her viral response to a question about what move in the bedroom makes a guy go “crazy.”
Her now-infamous reply, delivered during the Country Music Awards weekend in Nashville, was: “Awh, you gotta hawk … tuah, spit on that thang — you get me?” The clip quickly spread across TikTok and other platforms, thrusting the 21-year-old into the spotlight.
Initially maintaining a low profile, Welch has begun to embrace her newfound fame. Last month, she reportedly earned $30,000 for an appearance at a pool club in South Florida, where she fittingly wore a Tua Tagovailoa shirsey.
Welch on Thursday took her talents to the baseball field, throwing the first pitch at the Mets game. Her presence, however, was met with mixed reactions, particularly given the youthful audience in attendance.
“So the Mets decided to get the Hawk Tuah Girl to throw out the 1st pitch for a summer ‘camp day’ day game where the vast majority of fans are 11-year-old kids at the ballpark on camp trips. Seriously what were they thinking? Be better than this,” one user commented on X.

“What an awful, awful decision to legitimize her and give her a platform,” another user criticized, with others labeling the decision as “pathetic” and “disgusting.”

In response to the backlash, Welch took to social media to explain the true purpose of her appearance. Sharing a video of a service dog named Buddy playing on the field, she revealed her intention to support America’s VetDogs, a charity that pairs service dogs with war veterans. “So I guess some of the baseball community wasn’t too happy to see me yesterday. The main reason I went to the game was to spread awareness and donate to America’s VetDogs which pairs dogs with war veterans for a forever home. Join me in donating to this amazing charity,” Welch wrote.

Meanwhile, supporters came to Welch’s defense, noting that she did not choose to go viral and has used her platform for charitable donations.
Despite Welch’s appearance, the Mets suffered a disappointing loss, squandering a 5-0 lead to the A’s and losing 7-6 in the longest nine-inning game of the pitch-timer era, clocking in at 3 hours and 45 minutes. The defeat has led some to speculate that Welch may have “cursed” the 2024 Mets, marking what could be their worst loss of the season.