Thursday, October 2, 2003
ESPN's 100 Greatest Home Runs
I totally protest. There's one omission that is quite glaring. ESPN apparently couldn't find room on its list of the 100 Greatest Home Runs Of All-Time for J.T. Snow's 9th inning, 3-run home run to tie Game 2 of the 2000 NLDS against the Mets.
Let's look at some of the homers that were "greater" than that one:
How often has a player tied his team's playoff game in the ninth inning with a three-run home run? Isn't Snow the only player in history to ever do that? Am I forgetting something?
I protest.
I'd also like to add that Rick Camp's home run should have made the list. Yes, the Braves pitcher from the late 70s-early 80s. July 4, 1985, the Mets are in Atlanta playing the Braves. This game went on forever. Mets went ahead in extra innings only to have Terry Harper tie it with a home run, I think in the 12th or 13th inning.
Eighteenth inning, and it's actually way into the morning of July 5 now, Mets go up by a run, it's 11-10. Bottom 18, the Braves make two quick outs and Rick Camp is forced to hit for himself because there is no one left. Gary Carter, the Mets' catcher this morning, calls all of his outifelders in, signaling with his hand, come in, come in. Camp takes strike one. One of the Braves' announcers was heard saying, "If Rick Camp hits a home run to tie this game..." The others start laughing. He continued with something like "...that will certify this game as the nuttiest game ever played in the history of baseball." Camp fouls off another pitch and doesn't look good doing it. Announcer says kiddingly and resignedly, "Well, at least he got a piece of it."
Next pitch, boom.
Next thing we see is Mets outfielder Danny Heep running back and then suddenly giving up and putting his hands on his head in shock. The ball went over the damn wall. Fulton County Stadium explodes, all those folks who stayed until 4 in the morning, they all go nuts. Braves announcer going, "This is absolutely the wildest, wackiest game...!!"
Never mind that the Braves lost in the 19th inning by getting outscored 5-2 in that frame. Rick Camp belongs on the list. Come on!
So does J.T. Snow! Come on!
Let's look at some of the homers that were "greater" than that one:
Babe Ruth's homer in the first game at Yankee Stadium
Somebody named Johnny Lindell hitting a home run that did something in the 1949 pennant race
Ken Griffey Sr.'s home run which preceded his son's--meant nothing on its own
The home run that hit Jose Canseco on the head and bounced over the wall, for ChrissakesEven Robin Ventura's "home run" which was actually technically just a single made the list. J.T. Snow's home run was not a greater home run than Robin Ventura's single? Come on!!
How often has a player tied his team's playoff game in the ninth inning with a three-run home run? Isn't Snow the only player in history to ever do that? Am I forgetting something?
I protest.
I'd also like to add that Rick Camp's home run should have made the list. Yes, the Braves pitcher from the late 70s-early 80s. July 4, 1985, the Mets are in Atlanta playing the Braves. This game went on forever. Mets went ahead in extra innings only to have Terry Harper tie it with a home run, I think in the 12th or 13th inning.
Eighteenth inning, and it's actually way into the morning of July 5 now, Mets go up by a run, it's 11-10. Bottom 18, the Braves make two quick outs and Rick Camp is forced to hit for himself because there is no one left. Gary Carter, the Mets' catcher this morning, calls all of his outifelders in, signaling with his hand, come in, come in. Camp takes strike one. One of the Braves' announcers was heard saying, "If Rick Camp hits a home run to tie this game..." The others start laughing. He continued with something like "...that will certify this game as the nuttiest game ever played in the history of baseball." Camp fouls off another pitch and doesn't look good doing it. Announcer says kiddingly and resignedly, "Well, at least he got a piece of it."
Next pitch, boom.
Next thing we see is Mets outfielder Danny Heep running back and then suddenly giving up and putting his hands on his head in shock. The ball went over the damn wall. Fulton County Stadium explodes, all those folks who stayed until 4 in the morning, they all go nuts. Braves announcer going, "This is absolutely the wildest, wackiest game...!!"
Never mind that the Braves lost in the 19th inning by getting outscored 5-2 in that frame. Rick Camp belongs on the list. Come on!
So does J.T. Snow! Come on!
