You’ll Probably Never See Another Baseball Exhibition Like This
I didn’t take the opportunity to write about this earlier in the week, but I definitely wanted to bring it to your attention. Major League Baseball had its big All-Star Shindig and it started Monday with the home run derby. Josh Hamilton, whose comeback story is as inspiring as you’re going to read, shattered the single-round record in his first round with 28 dingers (the old record was 24).
I put a video of his display after the jump. If you like baseball even a little bit, it will take your breath away. At one point, he hit 13 homers in a row before making another out. He hit three over 500 feet, including the third-longest home run ever hit in a derby. He had 50,000+ baseball fans – New York fans – on their feet cheering every blast. And he did it all with a huge “aw shucks” smile.
If you watch the video, though, I want you to pay attention to the slow-motion capture of his swing at about the 6:24 mark (and just before it you get to see Red Sox’ player David “Big Papi” Ortiz, one of the nicest guys in all of baseball, having some fun with Hamilton). It is the closest thing to a perfect baseball swing I have ever seen, and I’ve been watching baseball pretty much all my life. When they teach kids how to hit in Little League, that’s the swing they’re talking about. Watch especially how he keeps his hands back until just the right moment when his hips have already turned and his upper body is just about to expend its energy. That’s when his arms come to full extension, driving the bat forward until, right at the point of contact, his wrists “break” and the ball simply jumps off the bat. It’s beautiful, it what it is.
So, anyway, it’s really good baseball stuff. Major League baseball still has a ton of problems, starting right at the very top. Josh Hamilton and the show he put on Monday night, definitely isn’t one of them.
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Category: The Great American Pastime
