Two-time World Series champion is unmasked on 'Masked Singer'
The Rhino gave so many credibly twangy performances this Masked Singer season that the judges were convinced he was a country music superstar, even when he crooned tunes by John Hiatt, Niall Horan, the Jonas Brothers, or Smokey Robinson. This week alone, the panel was tossing out A-list Nashville names like Jason Aldean, Trace Adkins, Sam Hunt, and Blake Shelton. But when the Rhino was de-horned at the end of Wednesday’s top four semifinals show, after singing Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind,” he turned out to be a different sort of all-star: Cy Young Award and World Series winner Barry Zito. The Rhino’s identity wasn’t a curveball for everyone. Judge Jenny McCarthy guessed two episodes ago that this horny creature might be the former Oakland A’s/San Francisco Giants legend, and this week, suddenly Ken “I Know Exactly Who This Is” Jeong was convinced as well. I even pitched this theory a few weeks ago, as “Yahoo’s resident Masked Singer expert” (that’s totally going on my business card) for Yahoo Sports. But Nicole Scherzinger was skeptical, insisting, “There is no way that isn’t a singer.” Well, Nicole wasn’t wrong. Barry is a singer. Unlike most of the athletes who’ve competed on this show, who can’t carry a tune nearly as well as they can carry a ball (Rob “The White Tiger” Gronkowski, I’m looking at you), Barry has actual musical talent. He hails from a showbiz family — his father was the conductor for Nat King Cole, his mother was a violinist and singer, and he used to play guitar in his sister’s band — and since retiring from baseball, he has settled in Nashville to focus on his music career. He even cracked Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and garnered positive reviews with his debut EP, No Secrets. But Barry was still able to keep one secret: that he was the man behind the Rhino mask. He certainly brought his A-game this season.
Video Transcript
- (SINGING) Hold the door. Say please. Say thank you. Don't steal, don't cheat, and don't lie. I know you've got mountains to climb, but always stay humble and kind.
- Beautiful.
- During "The Masked Singer" semifinals Wednesday night, the four remaining mystery celebrities-- the Rhino, the Night Angel, the Frog, and the Turtle-- each performed for a spot in the top three moving on to next week's finale. Unfortunately, the audience was saying "rhi-no," which did not sit well with the viewers at home. So who was the mystery singer under the mask?
- Take it off.
NICK CANNON: World Series champion, major league pitched Barry Zito.
- Ken Jeong, who is notorious for making the absolute worst guesses, was so excited that he finally got it right that he rushed to the stage right before Barry Zito revealed that he and his wife gave birth to their third boy three days before.
Meanwhile, viewers of the show were so proud of Barry for how far he got in the competition. One viewer boldly tweeted, "Barry Zito is getting a record deal after this." And although Barry didn't make it to next week's finale, the former Major League Baseball pitcher, formerly known as the Rhino, gave one last performance.
BARRY ZITO: (SINGING) Don't steal, don't cheat, and don't lie. You know you've got mountains to climb. But always be humble and kind.
