I got an email directing me to enter a contest at ESPN.com by voting for the "Greatest Home Run of All Time." This week's round asks you to choose between the dramatic Bobby Thomson "Shot Heard 'Round the World" / "The Giants Win the Pennant!!" home run and Reggie Jackson's 3 HR game in Game 6, 1977.
Before I even loaded the webpage, the Thomson home run, the Fisk Game 6 home run, and Joe Carter's WS-winning home run were the instant highlight reel playing in my head. Thomson's home run was the ultimate walk-off, mob-at-the-plate, carry-off-on-teammate's-shoulders culmination of a great pennant race comeback. Clearly one of the most dramatic moments in baseball history, this choice shouldn't even be a close.
It's not close. Jackson's kicking Thomson's ass 64% to 36%. An absolute travesty. While the game established Jackson's credentials as "Mr October" and was clearly a dominating performance, the statistical anomoly of hitting a third home run (solo) in the eighth inning of a game you already lead 7-3 is a nice insurance run, but not "The Greatest Home Run of All Time."
I'm calling on Yankee-haters and knowledgeble fans everywhere to make this right. Enter the contest and vote.
As Rick Santorum would say, " the future of our country hangs in the balance."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You're right - that's silly. Reggie's probably doesn't even belong in the top 20. Thomson's should probably be #1, although Bill Mazeroski's to end the 1960 World Series would be another acceptable choice...
I'm a right of center Yankee fan, so we probably don't agree on much, but I think you are right about Thompson's home run. The only others that could possibly compare are probably Mazeroski's 1960 home run, Aaron's 715th, or possibly Maris's 61st.
Post a Comment