Jalen Brunson hosts the Season 52 premiere of Saturday Night Live on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, with KATSEYE as the musical guest.
He becomes the fifth NBA player to host, after Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and LeBron James. Barkley has done it four times.
Baseball has one.
How to watch
Saturday Night Live, Season 52 premiere
Saturday, Sept. 26 — 11:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Streaming: Peacock, live and on demand after
Host: Jalen Brunson. Musical guest: KATSEYE.
Derek Jeter, December 2001
Jeter hosted on Dec. 1, 2001, in Season 27, four weeks after the Yankees lost Game 7 of the World Series to Arizona. Shakira and Bubba Sparxxx were the musical guests.
He remains the only active major leaguer ever to host the show.
David Cone and David Wells crashed his monologue in drag. In the "Yankee Wives" sketch, Jeter put on a dress and sat in the stands alongside Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler.
That's the list. One player, one episode, twenty-five years ago.
The others weren't active players
Bob Uecker hosted in October 1984, during his run as Mr. Baseball — a broadcaster and former catcher, not an active player. Billy Martin co-hosted the Season 11 finale in 1986 as a manager. George Steinbrenner hosted in October 1990 as an owner.
Deion Sanders hosted in 1995 while playing for both the 49ers and the Reds, which makes him the only dual-sport host and arguably baseball's second entry, depending on how you count.
Baseball shows up in cameos instead
A 1997 episode hosted by Helen Hunt featured a group sketch with Mark McGwire, Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, David Cone, Brady Anderson, Wally Joyner, Eddie Murray and Iván Rodríguez.
Nomar Garciaparra turned up in a Boston Teens sketch in 2000. Anthony Rizzo, David Ross and Dexter Fowler appeared on Weekend Update after the 2016 Cubs won the World Series.
And in 2017, José Altuve, George Springer and Alex Bregman walked up behind Leslie Jones on Weekend Update while she was making jokes about how short the Astros were. It ended with her pulling the AL MVP into her lap.
Bregman is in the Cubs lineup at Fenway Park this afternoon.
Pete Davidson went the other direction
In September 2015, Davidson put on a Marlins uniform and shagged fly balls with Christian Yelich during batting practice at Citi Field, because he looks like him.
The most famous baseball figure in SNL history isn't real
Chico Escuela, Garrett Morris's fictional Mets infielder turned Weekend Update sports correspondent, debuted in 1978. "Baseball been berry berry good to me" has outlasted every real player's appearance on the show combined.
Why Brunson
The Knicks won their first title in 53 years in June. Brunson was the franchise player.
The Athletic's James L. Edwards III, who covers the team, described him as deadpan and sarcastic rather than a class clown — the guy who eggs on the funny friend. Josh Hart is the obvious cameo candidate, and OG Anunoby is reportedly considered the funniest person on the roster despite saying almost nothing.
Law Murray, writing alongside him, called Peyton Manning's March 2007 episode the best athlete performance in the show's history.
The musical guest is its own international story
KATSEYE was assembled from more than 120,000 applicants worldwide by HYBE, the South Korean company behind BTS, and Geffen Records.
The members come from the Philippines, Switzerland, South Korea and the United States, with Venezuelan-Cuban, Indian and Chinese-Singaporean heritage among them. They sing in English and train the way K-pop groups do.
One more coincidence
Wayne Gretzky remains the only athlete born outside the United States to host Saturday Night Live.
Baseball's player pool is roughly a quarter foreign-born. Four of the thirty Roberto Clemente Award nominees this year were born outside the fifty states. And in fifty-one seasons, the show has never had a foreign-born baseball player host it.
Host and musical guest details via NBC. SNL athlete host history via Yahoo Sports and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Brunson comments via The Athletic.