Bartolo Colon is a pitcher for the New York Mets. His nickname by his fellow teammates is Big Sexy. Born in the Dominican Republic, he’s just shy of 43 years old. He’s currently the oldest player in baseball having started his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1997. He accomplished many things in his career including winning the American League Cy Young Award and also the most wins by a pitcher from the DR. He’s mostly a control pitcher who uses positioning more than speed to get hitters out. But just looking at him, the one area that he wouldn’t impress would be hitting and most likely the picture doesn’t lie. He’s a large man with an awkward swing. His numbers reflect that. He’s just not a good hitter with a batting average well under .100. In some circles we’d say he’s not hitting the interstate (like I-95 or I-90 would be under .100). So it’s little wonder no one takes him seriously when he gets up to bat for his team. It’s like that sinking feeling you get when you watch a little league game, the pitcher comes up to hit, and the entire infield moves towards him for the easy out. That’s what happened last night when the Mets came to play the San Diego Padres last night. Colon came up to bat with a runner on first.
Then a funny thing happened. It’s Gary Cohen on WPIX 11 New York with one of the greatest calls in baseball history right up there with “The Giants win the pennant”. Even if you’re not a Mets fan, the call is brilliant:
Gary Cohen's Colon HR Call
And while not as spectacular but even funnier, there’s Howie Rose’s WOR radio call on 710AM of the same event which is a much listen too:
Howie Rose's radio call of Colon's HR
We can win in the most surprising ways.