Some sports fans could certainly use a pacifier from time to time.

After the Athletics' Brent Rooker was shown on ESPN's broadcast of the 2025 Home Run Derby feeding his baby daughter with a bottle, one fan on social media audaciously questioned why Rooker was being a good father. Rooker and his wife share two daughters, 11-month-old Blake and 3-year-old Blair. He was minding his own business feeding Blake on the sidelines toward the end of the Derby when one fan appeared to criticize the A's slugger for his paternal instincts.

"Did you really need to feed your baby on camera?" the fan wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). "Sometimes people just want to see you play."

"Yes, it was necessary to feed my 11 month old child her night time bottle at like 9:00 pm. Thank you for asking," Rooker replied matter-of-factly.

God forbid baseball fans take a break from the dingers and watch a few seconds of a dad feeding his daughter at a historically family-friendly event like the Derby.

Rooker was eliminated by the finest of margins in the first round with 17 home runs, but he stayed gracious in defeat and no doubt gained a few new fans with his viral baby-feeding moment and perfectly petty clap-back afterward.

More MLB on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Brent Rooker Claps Back at Fan Questioning Why He Fed His Baby During Home Run Derby.

Test hyperlink for boilerplate