The Prospectus Hit Lis... (08/07)
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August 7, 2012 Tater Trot TrackerBonds Passes AaronFive years ago, this happened: It was a special moment for Bonds and his family and—judging by the reaction of the AT&T Park crowd—for the Giants' fans as well. The rest of the baseball world? I'm not so sure. Too many things have happened since that day for there to be much, if any, goodwill left from the event that history told us would be a defining moment of our baseball fandom. Hopefully, a little historical perspective (and maybe a little drop in sanctimony) will change that. For those wondering just how slow Bonds made his record-breaking trot—the man wasn't exactly known for his "swing hard, run hard" mentality—you can watch the uninterrupted trot here (see "Bonds Launches No. 756" under the Video heading). It's honestly not all that bad when you consider the full context of the situation. From the moment Bonds makes contact on the deep flyball to the moment he steps on home plate and looks upward, it takes 32.75 seconds. Most of that comes from Bonds standing at home plate in celebration, as he doesn't pass first base until nearly 11.5 seconds have ticked off. The rest of the trot comes at a pretty good clip, though he does seem to slow about halfway down the third base line before finally walking in his final steps. Considering Hanley Ramirez took 30.3 seconds on a perfectly pointless trot back in July, a 32.75 second trot on the biggest home run in history is completely understandable. Hank Aaron took 24.88 seconds on his own milestone tater trot. Make of that what you will. Other milestone trots (from Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., and others) can be found here.
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Value Picks: First, Third, and DH for 8/7/12
On the one hand, I suspect that if you could get data for that time, 24.88 would be fairly slow.
On the other hand, I expect that Henry was rather more relieved and glad it was over. He's a nice guy who had been getting a detailed lesson in how many people aren't.
For Barry, a lot of the anger and hype was a lot closer to "business as usual" for him, not like the sheer hate and threats directed at Aaron.
Aaron may have also been slowed by his visitors when he rounded the bases.
It was mentioned on a MLBN show today and I think it really rings true: steroids or no, it's pretty strange that no one remembers the pitcher, opponent, date, etc when it comes to Bond's record breaking blast in the way we remember Hank, Cal, Rickey, or other's big moments.