The home run has been referred to as the most memorable play in baseball. It’s been over 25 years since Joe Carter’s historic blast gave the Toronto Blue Jays their second consecutive World Series win and the first World Series won on Canadian soil. Blue Jays play-by-play announcer Tom Cheek called it this way: “Touch ’em all Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life.”
Afterwards, Carter described his feelings as he rounded the bases, saying, “It was like an out of the body experience!”
Fans love to see home runs; it’s both exhilarating and awesome at the same time. Several play-by-play announcers have been defined and remembered by their personal home run calls. Poetic and colourful, here are a couple legendary announcements.
Harry Carey of the Chicago Cubs: “It could be, it might be…It is, a home run.”
Mike Shannon of the St. Louis Cardinals: “Get up, baby! Get up! Oh yeah!”
Certain home run calls remain a part of baseball legend. Consider Phil Rizzuto in 1961. Baseball enthusiasts were on the edge of their seats as New York Yankees slugger, Roger Maris, was on the verge of breaking one of the more notable records in the sport. Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, hit 60 dingers way back in 1927.
Adding to the drama was the fact that it was the last game of the season when Maris walked up to the plate in Yankee Stadium. New York play-by-play man Rizzuto was riveted, as was every other fan that day. In the fourth inning, fans listening to the broadcast heard this:
“Hit deep to right! This could be it! Way back there! Holy cow! He did it! Number 61 for Roger Maris.”
One of my favourites is from the late Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus. Whenever a Mariner hit a grand slam (a homer with the bases loaded) this is what you heard: “Get out the rye bread and mustard, grandma, cause it’s grand salami time!”
In 1985, Major League Baseball introduced a Home Run Derby, which has since been held the day before the annual all-star game. Proven to be quite popular, both the players and the fans have a lot of fun. Canada’s Justin Morneau, who is from New Westminster, B.C., won the competition in 2008. Baseball people must have been thinking about this new spectacle for the fans for some time, as back in 1960 there was a TV series called the Home Run Derby. Unfortunately the producer passed away that same year, promptly terminating its production.
More recently in 2007, a Japanese online baseball video game surfaced. It was called Winnie the Pooh’s Home Run Derby and was labelled as extremely difficult. Of course, Tigger was all over it!
Now, for the first time ever, the 2019 Grand Forks International will feature a Home Run Derby. It will be held in the evening on Wednesday, June 25, immediately following the tournament’s opening ceremonies. This feature should be entertaining and a lot of fun for spectators and athletes alike.
In fact, I think it would be a lot of fun to stage a home run call competition sometime during the tournament too! I’ve detailed some notable and unique calls from a few baseball announcers above, so I wonder what clever phrases spectators might have. You can be sure there are fans out there with creativity and imagination, quite capable of crafting their own distinctive adaptation of the Home Run call.
One more sample, from the late Ken Coleman. Whenever there was an obvious well-hit ball, a “no-doubter” as they say, Coleman uttered these words: “They usually show movies on a flight like that.”
