A national anthem performance by Motown icon Martha Reeves at the inaugural game of the Women’s Professional Baseball League drew viral attention over the weekend, but for all the wrong reasons.
Reeves, accompanied by two backup vocalists, delivered a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner that wandered all over the place, prompting uneasy expressions from spectators and shocking many online.
Yet it seemed the performers might have anticipated trouble after their unsettled rehearsals on the stadium floor. TMZ obtained footage of the singers running through the number before the full crowd filed in.
In the video, Reeves ponders aloud whether the backup singers should take part.
Worst National Anthem Ever? Motown Legend Martha Reeves Responds to Online Hate After Cringeworthy Star-Spangled Banner Performance
“I don’t think I need them,” Reeves said. “I don’t need them.”
Despite the shaky rehearsals, the performance went ahead as scheduled. Reeves did not attribute the off-key sound to the rehearsal struggles, though.
😅 EXCLUSIVE: Martha Reeves critiques backup singers before viral WPBL anthem performance. pic.twitter.com/z7jCUYpbsF
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 4, 2026
“Having just marked her 85th birthday, Reeves remarked that after more than six decades of live performance she has learned a great deal.”
“It was a tremendous honor to be invited to perform at the inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League event and to participate in celebrating a historic milestone for women in sports. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”
“The field was damp and gusty, and without stage monitors I couldn’t hear myself the way I usually do,” Reeves explained. “Although it wasn’t the performance I envisioned, I’m thankful to have stood there in support of these exceptional athletes and this pioneering league.”
Reeves, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, rose to prominence in the 1960s as the lead vocalist of Martha Reeves & the Vandellas.
She attended the WPBL’s opening game, a four-team circuit featuring the New York Heights, San Francisco Firebells, Los Angeles Queens and Boston Hunters. It marked the United States’ first professional women’s game in seven decades.
Philadelphia native Mo’ne Davis, who shot to fame in 2014 as one of the two girls in the Little League World Series, plays for the Los Angeles Queens. The first 1,000 spectators received Davis bobbleheads.
Despite the faltering national anthem, the WPBL debut was overall a success, with the Queens edging the New York team 10-8.
Some coaches in sports often remind players: “If you practice badly, you perform badly.”
Here too, the same rule seems to apply to singing rehearsals.
