The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT July 14, 2010
Grown men acting like kids again
Cliff Lee getting traded to Texas, the World Cup championship match and the introduction of the next big three in the NBA.
Three huge sports stories, but each took a back seat to a home run derby, played on a field 500 miles away in Billings, with some grown men hitting home runs on a field where 10-year olds play.
AFTER NEARLY 10 months of anticipation, the weekend had finally arrived and I was off to Billings for a friend’s wedding.
It so happened that in conjunction with the event, a home run derby was to be held in The Heights in Billings featuring members of the wedding party.
Like any other event, we had some strict ground rules, outside of the normal 10 outs and elimination after a set number of rounds. We played with aluminum bats and softballs. Another rule that was thrown in at the last minute was that anyone not feeling able to catch a fly ball could let it bounce so they didn’t show up for wedding photos with a black eye.
Temperatures increased, as did the intensity in which the balls being hit were coming at the outfielders. Trying to make a regular catch, a ball nearly hit me in the head, to which I just opted to start listening and leave the spectacular plays to the pros.
Once I finally stepped to the plate, I figured out why exactly I stopped playing baseball a long time ago — my abilities as a hitter have diminished and the amount of missed swings and foul balls outweighed those flying over the fence.
Finally after a couple swings, one of my hits landed over the center field fence, seeming like the first of many that I was about to hit that day.
THAT DIDN’T happen as I failed to hit another home run and eventually switched my focus to not getting hurt in the outfield.
After running down a few fly balls in the outfield and nearly crashing into the fence, the derby came down to a final home run swing fitting for a movie.
However, this walk-off home run wasn’t shown on ESPN, nor the Billings news stations, as the only evidence of the epic home run was a fresh dent in the Pepsi sign under the left field scoreboard.
Had I been able to jump a couple more feet, there was a chance I could have made a catch, comparable to anything you’d see from Ichiro Suzuki or Ken Griffey, Jr. in the prime of their careers.
Too bad I’m not Ichiro, because as the ball flew over my glove, the sound of it smacking the metal sign was enough to make me think that the entire scoreboard was about to collapse, with an All-Star game about to start on the same field.
WE EVEN dressed the part that day, with replica jerseys of our favorite teams, but it was the best man donning a Chuck Norris shirt that walked away with the derby championship.
The results didn’t matter much anyway, as a group of Little Leaguers that witnessed the conclusion told us how much they enjoyed watching us play.
I just enjoyed the idea of being 10 again — if only for a couple hours.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via e-mail at [email protected].