Home Run of the Day: Curtis Granderson, New York Yankees #2 (Trot Time: 20.79 seconds) [video]
Granderson’s first home run of the night was clocked at 18.79 seconds, but we can forgive the guy a couple of seconds on his second home run trot of the night. On a night with so few homers, this two-home run performance in the same game that the Yankees honored George Steinbrenner with a (gigantic) plaque in Monument Park seems very fitting as Home Run of the Day.
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Slowest Trot: Yuniesky Betancourt, Kansas City Royals – 24.78 seconds [video]
How did Yuni get here? Your guess is as good as mine (though the 24-second trot isn’t usually enough to get someone in the Slowest Trot of the Day category…)
In the same game, Detroit’s Will Rhymes hit his first career home run. However, it was initially ruled in-play (and a triple) because the umpires couldn’t see it bounce off the wall behind the fence. When they overruled it and gave Rhymes his home run, they made Rhymes the first player to have his first career home run be one reviewed and overturned. (At least, that’s the best I can tell from perusing the Retrosheet list here.)
Quickest Trot: Scott Rolen, Cincinnati Reds – 18.29 seconds [video]
I watched this live, as Joey Votto and Scott Rolen went back-to-back on consecutive pitches from Kameron Loe. It was about as much fun as you could imagine (though I am always happy to see Rolen doing well again).
