There are home runs and then there are HOME RUNS. Adam Dunn of the Reds hit a HOME RUN yesterday. Not one of those line drive, excuse me sir, can you please show me the way to the foul pole home runs. But a real live, Roy Hobbs, blow up the score board HOME RUN.
Nobody on (it's the Reds, nobody is ever on) and Oliver Perez pitching for the Mets in the 4th. Perez is a power pitcher who is thinking he can blow the ball by Dunn, who is usually good for about 125 strikeouts a year. Dunn is thinking he can go deep, which he does about 40 times a season. Perez was wrong, Dunn was right.
Like most accidents, it happened so fast you weren't sure that you saw what your eyes took in. Perez challenged Dunn and the "Big Donkey" (hey, I don't pick the nicknames) put one off the scoreboard in right. Blew out two sets of scoreboard lights and left them swinging off the end of their electrical connections. Visibly dented the scoreboard. I don't know if the ball was rising when it hit, but I do know it wasn't falling.
It is 378 feet to the power alleys in Shea. If you look at the photo you will see the scoreboard is about sixty feet or so back (Mets fans, I'm guessing about this so if you have been there and know how far it really is leave a comment). Fifty feet up sounds about right for where the ball hit. Officially, the papers have the homer at 450 feet.
Is 450 feet 450? Is it based on where the ball hit, or where it would have landed? Customs are changing, with most teams figuring distance on where the ball would have landed if it had not hit an obstruction. If that's how the Mets figure it, Dunn was robbed. If it's 450 out to the fence, then it would have gone 500 feet to a landing site in the parking lot.
However you measure the "shot heard around FSN", it was a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. That sounds like a cliche, but there was a joy to watching Dunn's blast, a joy known only to baseball fans. It's a happiness that transcends the game itself (Reds lost 5-2).
It's a great story to tell. I just saw it on TV, but for those who were at Shea it will become legendary. Over the years grandchildren will hear the story. It will go from 450 to 475, from 50 feet up the scoreboard to 70. From two broken fixtures it will grow to a spark raining, glass shattering, life threatening crash that could be heard five miles away from the stadium. It will become, justifiably, a thing of memory.
I still remember Reggie Jackson's home run in the All-Star Game in Detroit that went to the roof of that enormous old stadium. Harmon Killebrew's home runs could have brought rain, so majestic was their arc. My favorite, though was a wind blown drive in Greensboro hit by a skinny Pirate prospect named Willie Greene. He got under the ball and crushed it, then the wind did the rest. It seemed to rise forever and went so far that nobody saw it land. Maybe it never did.
Baseball isn't a fast game, the moments of excitement rest in splendid cushions of small detail. Pundits say it isn't even America's game anymore. But there is still the home run. And on an afternoon in New York, that was just enough to approach sporting perfection. Babe Ruth would have been proud.
Dudski - I didn't see Dunn's homerun but will definately take your word for it. The Jackson HR is still the most awesome homerun I have ever seen. Better than any I have seen Bonds, McGwire, Sosa...anybody hit. That ball was still going up when it hit the light standard. Saw Frank Howard hit one into the upper deck in old Tiger Stadium with one hand. Hr's like that provide the great memories of baseball and help us, at least for a second, forget all the #### that now accompanies the game. Thanks for helping spark some of those memories.
How high up on the scoreboard did it hit? You say lights which would leave me to believe lights would be over the scoreboard to illuminate it. If so that's incredible. Definately a 500. That 502 of whatever it was that Vlad hit in the homer contest was just awesome. This sounds along those lines but in a real game. Wow.
Outlaw-I should of explained that better. It hit the lights for the Dodgers and somebody on the scoreboard and blew out the lights. So, it wasn't all the way up.
GCoach-Howard was amazing. He started his career in Dodger Stadium and then went to RFK in Washington and still hit all those home runs. 6'7" and arms like Paul Bunyoun. You're right, he was something.
As my friends and I like to say, "That's not a blast from the past it's a boomer to the future."
Monster shot.
For the record I have questioned the accuracy of home run distances myself. Doing my own math it often seems like the ball went farther to my naked eye than they give credit for. (Given the dimensions shown on outfield walls) I'm sure they must know better than me.
By the way, I just left you a MUCH belated follow-up comment on your "Cheaters..." blog from a couple of weeks ago. I meant to check back but blogging time has been sparse and it slipped my mind.
I remember Willie Greene. He played with Baltimore I think and he had a brief stay with the Blue Jays a bunch of years back. Although we could be talking about a different Greene.
Ryan Howard certainly hits majestic shots these days. Add him to the list of 'massive bombers'. Saw him hit a rope the opposite way in Toronto last year - second deck. That is a shot for righties, let alone lefties. Incredible display.
You have won a satellite tournament (have I been playing too much poker lately maybe?) in the best blogger for the first half of the year. Check my blog please.
BGL-The Reds spent the off season trying to build a bullpen up and it just didn't take. Last season they traded Kearns and Lopez for relievers and the guys they got have spent time on the DL. The best laid plans of mice and men and Reds...
Unless you have been to AT&T Park and seen where Bonds has hit some of his home runs you have no idea how impressive they are. Especially when you consider none of the lefties in the homerun contest got anywhere near the water. I remember a few years ago when ESPN was covering the Giants-Braves game with Aaron in the booth and Bonds hit two home runs in almost the exact same spot and when they showed the camera view from home plate the fans in that section looked like a blip. McGwire's homerun at Busch stadium where he hit the McDonald's sign in the upper deck and won everyone in the stadium a free McDonald's Big Mac was pretty impressive.
Jlew68-That's a good point. I saw a stat recently on the number of homeruns that landed in the water since the park opened and about 3/4ths of them were hit by Bonds, which is pretty impressive.
ok..you know I hate baseball, but this was a compelling baseball story. I wish I coulda seen it. Like Redford's HR in the Natural? Dang. I will look for it on espn...thanks for the heads up. GREAT POST, as usual.
