Will Nick Castellanos hit another home run after Pope Francis’ death? A complete timeline on player’s badly timed home runs after 2020

The morning of April 21, 2025, brought with it grave news for the world: the Pope is dead. Pope Francis departed the world, and while people are grieving the loss, baseball fans are betting all over social media. What are they betting on? Well, baseball fans are speculating about another home run from Philadelphia Phillies’ right fielder, Nick Castellanos, who is apparently the king of hitting homers during bad timing. The reason behind this is Castellanos’s long history of mistimed home runs, which has become the talk of the baseball town. Here’s a timeline of all mistimed home runs that the player has made from 2020.
The saga of mistimed home run started in 2020, when Nick went for a home run during the Phillies vs Kansas City Royals. During the match, broadcaster, Thom Brennaman, was apologizing on-air for the homophobic slang he used recently.

During the apology, Castellanos hit a home run for which Thom had to pause, give an update on the home run, and then return to his apology. The awkward timing went viral all over social media, tagged as the original Nick Castellanos poorly timed home run.
The second strike happened in 2021, when the Royals’ broadcaster was eulogizing a World War II veteran, who died a few days back, at the age of 97. During the eulogy, Castellanos went for a home run, and the broadcaster had to chime in, “There's a drive into deep left-center field.” Talk about a more awkward timing than this, well there are more, considering it's Nick Castellanos.
During the Spring Training of 2022, Nick again had his bad-timing moment. The broadcaster was discussing coach Pete Walker’s recent DUI arrest when Castellanos went for a single. The player again had his moment during Memorial Day, when broadcaster Tom McCarthy was paying tribute to the fallen members.

In the middle of the tribute, Nick went for a home run, and Tom had to pause his tribute mid-way. “Castellanos rips one to deep left field. It is gone!” said McCarthy to keep up with the game. It seems like Nick paid his own type of tribute with his bat.
It seems the curse of bad-timing home runs is not just limited to memorable events and broadcasters. Nick had apparently hit a home run in 2023 when broadcaster Brian Anderson was sending good wishes to Charlie Manuel, the Phillies manager who recently had a stroke.
The year 2024 seems to be the one when Nick had the most mistimed home runs. He hit a homer when Willie Mays, legendary Giants player departed the world, one when former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear, and again when Joe Biden said he won’t be standing for re-election. Nick even had a home run on the 23rd anniversary of the tragic 9/11 incident!

Apparently, Nick had his career first home run when he was in the Minor League, on the same day when Osama Bin Laden was declared dead. Well, it seems like the curse has been with the right fielder long back.

But, the real question is, will Nick hit another home run in the next Phillies game? Now that the news of Pope Francis's demise is all over the news, will Nick’s poorly-timed homer curse return? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, fans are putting their bets on the player hitting a home run in the upcoming game, hoping that Nick's bad-timing curse continues, as it does bring good luck to the Phillies.
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