What does PicApp have against Jim Thome? Haven’t had a current picture of him in nearly a month. I’m just going to have to go with this one from August, then…
Home Run of the Day: Jim Thome, Minnesota Twins (Trot Time: 23.26 seconds) [video]
Yes, I know it was only three days ago that I gave Thome the Home Run of the Day for passing Mark McGwire on the all-time list. And, yes, I know that Carlos Gonzalez hit a home run yesterday that put him atop the RBI leaderboard and made him only three home runs away from leading in all three Triple Crown categories in early-September. But Thome’s home run yesterday put him in a tie on the all-time list with Frank Robinson, and I just can’t ignore that.
As an Orioles fan growing up, I’ve always had a huge amount of respect for Robinson and consider him to be one of the most underrated baseball players in history. For most of my life, he was fourth all-time on the home run list. Fourth. That’s pretty tremendous. But now he and Thome are sitting tied… for eighth. If there’s anything that shows me just how crazy these last 15 years have been for home runs, it’s that Frank Robinson is eighth all-time (and about to be ninth). Nothing against Thome, who I love, or Griffey or Rodriguez or anyone – it’s just something that really gives me perspective on the game of baseball today.
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Slowest Trot: Vladimir Guerrero, Texas Rangers – 26.23 seconds [video]
Now that David Ortiz and Victor Martinez and the rest of the Red Sox are busy *not* hitting home runs with 28-second trots, we can go back to honoring these 25- or 26-second trots as the slowest of the day. Vlad, of course, wins the day with his 26.23 second trot, but Ryan Howard gave him a good run for his money with a 25.72 second trot of his own. (See what I did there?)
Quickest Trot: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies – 18.95 seconds [video]
I still don’t know how Ibanez can put up 18- or 19-second tater trots, but he seems to do it fairly often. I’m not complaining. The second quickest trot of the day belonged to Florida’s Mike Stanton, who clocked in with a 19.06 second trot.
