Worst Anthem Performance of All Time? Legendary Singer Stuns Crowd at New Women's Baseball League

Some are calling it the worst assault on the national anthem of all time. It happened at the debut of the new Women’s Pro Baseball League on Saturday, and a lot of people are wishing it hadn’t.

Surprisingly, the debacle was at least partly the fault of legendary Motown singer Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas. Her formerly awesome voice on 1960s hits like Dancing in the Street and Heat Wave was nowhere to be found, and her two unnamed backup singers were arguably worse and seemed to be singing a different song altogether.

What in the world happened here?

I can stall no longer: I have to post the actual clip. Just wait till you get to the "ramparts" part to truly get a real feel for it. Apologies in advance:

I made it 1.2 seconds. Good lord this makes cats sound like opera singers😳 pic.twitter.com/JCousaeKir
— Spitfire (@RealSpitfire) August 2, 2026

Watch the looks on the players' and fans' faces as the attack on the ears continued. They tell you all you need to know.

The good news for the new league: they’re getting plenty of free press, which they likely wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s the first pro women’s league in the U.S. since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) disbanded in 1954 and will feature four teams for now, including clubs in Boston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

No word yet on whether biological males will be invited to suit up.

O Say Can You See: There's More to the Story About That National Anthem Head Slap Heard Round the World

Video of Older Chicago Cubs Fan Popping Younger Man for Sitting During National Anthem Divides Internet

Reeves said following the game that “it wasn’t the performance I had hoped for,” adding that “wet and windy” conditions were partially to blame. That didn’t stop the internet from piling on, however. Some of the responses were priceless:

Blast this out over Iranian TV. They will surrender by dinner time.
— Dove Beak (@DBeak) August 2, 2026

Roseanne Barr is off the hook 🤣 https://t.co/zPo0m6iaFO
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) August 2, 2026

The above post references Roseanne Barr’s infamous 1990 crotch-grabbing demolition of the anthem, which has widely been considered among the worst of all time until now.

Another quipster wrote, “I just told my wife I was going to set this as her new alarm and she immediately typed up her own divorce papers.” And another: “I admire her ability to pick a key and just ignore it.” This one made me laugh: "One user said the 'off-key mess' was so bad it 'made the flag look embarrassed.'”

It was the faces of those in attendance that told the real story, however:

Their faces said what we were all thinking pic.twitter.com/Gm16OC83sQ
— Michael (@MichaelMatcha) August 2, 2026

I actually feel a little sorry for Martha, though; she’s 85, had already proven that she's a legend, and clearly wasn’t at her top form. But I do wonder why nobody in her inner circle who heard a rehearsal (did they have even one?) or has heard her sing recently didn’t whisper in her ear, “You sure you want to do this?”

While the criticism is quite fair — it’s one of the worst vocal performances I have ever heard — we’ll end with a little respect for the Motown icon because when she was good, she was very, very good: