WATCH: National Anthem Butchered At First Women’s Pro Baseball Game

The Women’s Pro Baseball League had a rocky start on Saturday as social media fans reacted to the vocal stylings of the selected national anthem singer, Martha Reeves.

Reeves is no amateur, as she’s the lead singer of the Motown group Martha and the Vandellas — best known for the popular hit single “Dancing in the Street.” But despite her credentials, the singer is being criticized for the performance.

Reeves, 85, sang before a game between the Los Angeles Queens and the New York Heights and the commenters were out in force to share their opinions on her version.

“They probably should have just put a boombox up to the microphone instead,” one person observed.

“‘Anthem singer’ must now be an entry-level, ‘no questions’ kind of position for the WPBL,” another said.

“I can’t un-see/un-hear this,” echoed another.

“This is domestic terrorism,” another commenter wrote.

This was the first women’s pro baseball game played in the U.S. in nearly three decades, as Fox News reported. Los Angeles won the game, 10-8.

National anthem singing debacles are nothing new, including in the MLB world. In 2024, Grammy-nominated country music singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress received terrible reviews for her rendition of the national anthem at the MLB Home Run Derby in Arlington, Texas. She later apologized and said she was checking into rehab.

Last year, Latin R&B singer Nezza made waves before a Los Angeles Dodgers game when she sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Spanish despite being told not to. She did so in protest of ICE deportations.

“I just could not believe when she walked in and told me no,” the singer said in a TikTok video to fans after the fact.

“I just felt like I needed to do it. For anyone who’s been following me for a while, you know everything I do is out of love,” she continued. “And I am proud of myself for doing that today. Because my parents are immigrants, and they’ve been citizens my whole life at this point. They got documented really early, but I just can’t imagine them being ripped away from me, just even at this age, let alone [as] a little kid. What are we doing?”