The 14 newcomers on the 2025 Corridor of Fame poll can testify to that. In celebration of those Cooperstown candidates, let’s look again at one enjoyable second from every participant’s profession.
CarGo possessed a velvety-smooth swing. The best way he would nonchalantly drop his bat proper on dwelling plate on the finish of his follow-through when he knew he obtained a maintain of a baseball — you might watch that swing all day and be completely satisfied. Right here, simply put this on a loop.
Not included in that montage is one swing from June 7, 2017. González completely annihilated a pitch in opposition to the Cubs, sending the ball to the again of the third deck in Coors Discipline. It traveled an estimated 480 toes. There was just one drawback: It did not rely. CarGo stated after the sport that it was “most likely essentially the most painful foul ball I’ve hit.”
However one individual’s ache could be one other individual’s pleasure; take a look at the fan catching González’s blast on the fly.
Granderson despatched three balls out of sight on June 25, 2018, in Houston. Effectively, that is a figurative description for 2 of these baseballs. However the different one, yeah, nobody ever noticed it once more.
Granderson went deep twice off of Justin Verlander on this evening, marking the ultimate multihomer sport of his profession. However earlier than these two dingers, Granderson got here to the plate within the first inning and popped up on a fastball. Catcher Max Stassi discarded his masks as he drifted behind the plate, regarded up and … continued wanting up. Then everybody regarded up.
Swallowed by the Minute Maid Park rafters, this popup was no extra. It had ceased to be!
However what about Larry Bernandez? He should have a shot, too, proper? And hardly anybody ever talks about left-handed pitcher Jerry Hernandez.
Do you know that Hernández is the newest — and presumably final — full-time American League pitcher to hit a grand slam? He did it in 2008 in opposition to the Mets. And he did not get his grand salami off of some hurler making an attempt to hold onto a roster spot. He hit it off of Johan Santana. In 2008, Santana led the Majors with a 2.53 ERA and had 7.1 bWAR. Félix was 4-for-50 with 22 strikeouts for his profession as a hitter. And but, right here he’s going oppo off of a two-time Cy Younger Award winner at pitcher-friendly Shea Stadium.
Simply … what on the earth?!
The “pie within the face” gag has been round because the flip of the twentieth century. A staple of slapstick comedy, Jones turned it right into a celebratory reward in Baltimore. Should you obtained pied by the Orioles heart fielder, you had been the star of the sport. Jones was on the receiving finish many occasions as properly.
In 2014, Jones was able to have fun together with his teammates and O’s followers after clinching an AL East title. And the pie man got here bearing many baked items — first for outfielder Nick Markakis, after which extra for these in attendance at Camden Yards. Take a look at him smash a couple of gleeful Orioles followers with pies. He doesn’t maintain again.
Kinsler was not a gradual baserunner. He had 243 stolen bases throughout his 14-year profession and even in his later seasons, his dash pace was nonetheless close to the league common of 27 toes per second.
However throughout a 2018 Spring Coaching sport in opposition to the Dodgers, Kinsler recorded a stolen base very slowly, fully accidentally and with no throw being made.
The state of affairs: It is a 1-1 rely to Justin Upton with two outs within the sixth inning. As J.T. Chargois will get a swing-and-miss from Upton, Kinsler breaks towards third. Effectively, it is extra of a lazy jog towards third. Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner described Kinsler as “skipping” towards third. No matter you wish to name it, he wasn’t precisely going all-out as a result of he thought Upton’s whiff was strike three and the inning was over.
Good factor for Kinsler that Dodgers third baseman Logan Forsythe seemingly forgot the rely as properly — or maybe he was shocked by essentially the most informal steal try in MLB historical past. Kinsler in the end made it to 3rd safely. Solely then did he understand that all the pieces was not what it appeared.
Martin was a stellar defensive catcher who would do absolutely anything to file an out. We do not have a single reel of the occasions when Martin put his physique on the road for a foul ball, so here’s a string of clips exhibiting his unbelievable tenacity. That final one is a completely wild seize.
We’ll spotlight one other such play from a 2018 Spring Coaching sport versus the Phillies as a result of it’s a incredible catch by Martin and appears prefer it might have been essentially the most painful.
Scrambling towards Philadelphia’s dugout, Martin bumped into some protecting netting whereas making a backhanded snare on a popup. It took a second for him to get untangled from the mesh and simply when he thought he was clear, he by chance dragged the netting down on high of him and obtained bonked within the face by a metallic bar.
He did, in fact, stay within the sport.
This occurred on Might 17, 2011. McCann was getting a break day amid a 25-game homerless streak, however he snapped that in emphatic style, drilling clutch clouts in opposition to Astros pitchers Mark Melancon and Jeff Fulchino. McCann drove in all of Atlanta’s runs within the 3-1 win.
We have chosen Pedroia’s leadoff homer in Sport 1 of the 2007 World Collection in opposition to Rockies left-hander Jeff Francis as his “enjoyable” clip. However what’s enjoyable about it did not materialize till a couple of days later. That is when a safety guard at Coors Discipline stopped Pedroia from coming into the stadium by means of the gamers’ entrance. The guard did not imagine Pedroia was an precise ballplayer, even after the Crimson Sox second baseman confirmed his participant ID card.
“Ask Jeff [expletive] Francis who the [expletive] I’m. I am the man who hit a bomb and simply ended their [expletive] season.”
Pedroia wasn’t incorrect; the Crimson Sox swept that World Collection.
In 2016, whereas Crimson Sox teammate Jackie Bradley Jr. was being interviewed on MLB Community, Ramirez had everybody in stitches when he all of the sudden appeared behind Bradley, shirtless and able to shadowbox. As MLB.com’s Michael Clair wrote then, wow, Ramirez was sneaky buff.
Rodney, at 47 years previous, continues to be enjoying skilled baseball — he simply signed final month with the Hamilton Cardinals in Canada. As Rodney informed The Athletic earlier this yr, he wish to preserve enjoying till he is 50. For so long as he is on the mound, you possibly can relaxation assured that he’ll preserve slinging his imaginary arrows.
Rodney began his bow-and-arrow act throughout the 2012 season, a yr through which he registered a 0.60 ERA over 74 2/3 innings. One yr later, he just about turned a whole nation into newbie archers. After getting the ultimate out of the 2013 World Baseball Basic for Group Dominican Republic, Rodney had lots of his teammates pointing to the sky, following the trail of the nearer’s invisible arrow.
One of many premier workhorses of his technology, Sabathia possessed power on the mound and on the plate. He hit three dwelling runs in 121 profession at-bats, they usually weren’t wall-scrapers.
Sabathia launched a few majestic dingers in 2008. The primary was a jaw-dropping crush job for Cleveland at Dodger Stadium. The second got here after he was traded to the Brewers and was a second-deck shot in opposition to the Reds.
For the reason that designated hitter was instituted in 1973, Sabathia is one among solely three pitchers to homer for a number of groups in the identical season. The opposite two are Jason Schmidt (2001) and Mike Leake (2015). However Sabathia is the lone member in that trio who frolicked with an American League membership that season.
We might use this area to highlight the time Ichiro informed Bob Costas his favourite American expression, however after that Dustin Pedroia quote, we’re bumping up in opposition to our restrict of expletives allowed in a narrative.
As a substitute, we’ll deal with when one of many biggest place gamers in MLB historical past tried his hand at pitching. Ichiro was a pitcher in highschool and did get on the mound throughout an all-star sport in Japan in 1996. Pitching within the Majors was one thing he all the time needed to try, however his alternative did not arrive till the very finish of the 2015 season, his fifteenth yr within the large leagues. Within the Marlins’ 162nd sport, Ichiro obtained the ball for the eighth inning in opposition to the Phillies.
He gave up two hits and a run whereas topping out at 88 mph, however he made it by means of the body and even badly fooled Freddy Galvis with a breaking ball. After the sport, Ichiro acknowledged what each pitcher who needed to face him already knew: Pitching ain’t simple.
Nevertheless, Ichiro did throw out the primary pitch forward of the Mariners’ 2022 dwelling opener and fired a strike — whereas in full uniform — to Julio Rodríguez.
We have got one other occasion of a Rockies slugger hitting a deep fly ball that’s plucked out of the air by a fan. However this clip has a twist.
Tulowitzki welcomed the start of his first youngster in January 2014. About 5 months later in San Francisco, he crushed a house run to left-center off of Madison Bumgarner, and the ball headed straight for an additional dad with a child. Carrying the younger youngster in his proper arm, this dad calmly snatched the lengthy ball together with his left hand whereas strolling again to his seat.
However you understand what actually ties this dad-to-dad dinger collectively? It got here on Father’s Day. Merely lovely.
We’ll shut with Zobrist helping on a really regular 6-3 groundout. Or no less than he made it look regular even though the ball skipped up off his glove and bounced on his cap twice earlier than he was capable of collect and make a superb throw throughout the diamond.
An actual heads-up play, do not you say? (Sorry.)
