Sam Horn hit a monster home run in spring training that left the ballpark and hit about halfway up the outside of the football (?) stadium located next to it. This may have been after he left Boston and was with the Orioles. Anyone recall any more about that hit?And it is sort of sad that one name was missing from the thread-I am talking about Big Sam Horn
I recall the legend, but I can't quite remember if it was when he was a member of the Sox or O's. But from what I can remember, it was an absolute bomb. Sorta like the one that Bo Jackson hit off Oil Can Boyd in Spring Training during the mid-to-late 80s.Sam Horn hit a monster home run in spring training that left the ballpark and hit about halfway up the outside of the football (?) stadium located next to it. This may have been after he left Boston and was with the Orioles. Anyone recall any more about that hit?
According to an article in the Page 2 column written for ESPN by Bill Simmons, during spring break he and a buddy headed to Orlando to catch the Sox vs. Twins at Tinker Field. His buddy was driving and said they needed to leave after 7 because they had a dinner engagement with friends. In the 9th Sam Horn hit the ball out of Tinker Field that landed in the Citrus Bowl, located about 100 feet behind the right field wall. The article wasn't dated but Horn's home run appears to have happened in 1989 (there was a reference to the "new" Johnny Damon).I recall the legend...
1967 Boomer for me too............was crushed when they traded him to the Brewers, so happy when they go him back. Played first base as a kid because I wanted to be like him.George Scott in "67. Man, I'm getting old.
Sam showed up for a couple Bashes back in the middle of the last decade. I know there was discussion of him getting something for the use of his name but I don't know if anything ever happened. We'd just change the name to Sons Of Scott Hatteberg (Shea Hillenbrand's a dick) and keep using the logoNow that the thread is winding down, can a mod or anyone in the know tell me if Big Sam Horn ever has received any sort of remuneration for the use of his name on this illustrious site-or if he ever acknowledged the lasting fame it brought to his name? Just wondering. By the way, I once heard Buck Showalter volunteer the information when he was an ESPN commentator that when a player strikes out five times in a game it is known as a "Horn". So I guess Sam has that going for him too.
No love for Sid Hudson or Slim Harriss?Sam showed up for a couple Bashes back in the middle of the last decade. I know there was discussion of him getting something for the use of his name but I don't know if anything ever happened. We'd just change the name to Sons Of Scott Hatteberg (Shea Hillenbrand's a dick) and keep using the logo
You must have quite the selective memory. Jones play two innings of one game at 1B in 1967Dalton Jones, 1967. And of course George Scott but for some reason Dalton Jones was my persona that fateful fall while playing catch with my brother, whose persona was Mike Andrews.
Even their children don't claim to be their sons.No love for Sid Hudson or Slim Harriss?
Totally correct take. Mo moved the racial goal posts in a positive direction as much as anybody has in Boston.Mo Vaughn was a force on and off the field for the Boston Red Sox and did a lot of work in changing the perception of both the city and the team. You can make the argument that while he wasn't a Hall of Famer by any means and might not have been the best player on his team, Mo Vaughn might be one of the most important athletes to come through Boston in the last 50 years.
Sam hit two notable bombs. The first was with Boston, the one in Spring Training that has been mentioned. The other was as an Oriole, where he hit a foul ball almost completely out of Memorial Stadium. Those two and the Bo Jackson jack are probably the longest Home Runs I've seen.* The hardest hit ball hit I can remember was a Manny laser in Tampa Bay, although legend has it that Ted hit balls like that with some frequency.I recall the legend, but I can't quite remember if it was when he was a member of the Sox or O's. But from what I can remember, it was an absolute bomb. Sorta like the one that Bo Jackson hit off Oil Can Boyd in Spring Training during the mid-to-late 80s.
I recall Williams hitting a line drive single that struck the wall just to the right of the flag pole (when it was still on the field in left-center and there was no padding) that caromed so hard that an infielder handled it. No one would have gotten a double on it, ca. 1957.The hardest hit ball hit I can remember was a Manny laser in Tampa Bay, although legend has it that Ted hit balls like that with some frequency.
Started and won a complete game for the Red Sox the first time I went to Fenway Park. Gernert played 1B. Time to play game: 1:46.No love for Sid Hudson
Yeah, this is what i suppose they were getting at.Mo was probably the first black player to be THE guy on the Red Sox. Clubhouse leader, face of the franchise, MVP level ability if that's what you mean.
That or I don't parse the baseball reference site very well.You must have quite the selective memory. Jones play two innings of one game at 1B in 1967
Wow. That's insane.I recall Williams hitting a line drive single that struck the wall just to the right of the flag pole (when it was still on the field in left-center and there was no padding) that caromed so hard that an infielder handled it. No one would have gotten a double on it, ca. 1957.
Wow. That's insane.
Sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like it came all the way back to the infield dirt but it got a much further rebound off the fence than any other line drive that I have seen.Or, more likely, the 2B or SS fielded the ball well out towards center field, making it "handled" by an infielder.
Ball would need a whole lot of "English" to bounce to the infield considering the wall there is a continuation of the Green Monster and faces the RF Foul Line. Or, more likely, the 2B or SS fielded the ball well out towards center field, making it "handled" by an infielder.
Heck, with the shift they used on David Ortiz, an infielder was already standing in that position.
I was there. It looked like it hit the press box but as I saw it, it actually bounced off the girders below. It was definitely a bomb. As I recall, the game was out of hand, one way or the other, at the time of the hit.However, articles in the Orlando Sentinel (Mar 11, 1988 -- on Thursday) and the New York Times (March 13, 1988 --the other day) both describe it a little differently and have it occurring in March 1988. Both say that it hit the press box in the Citrus Bowl (90 feet high, almost 100 feet high), so the date appears to be March 10, 1988.
Well, you were there: I wasn't. I recalled reading about it after it happened and reported what I found on the web.I was there.
Funny forgot Rico played 3rd. Always thought of him at SS. In 1971 when they got Aparicio he had an 0-40 or 44 stretch.This thread doesn't seem to be going away, so I'll add. It really has been a fun off-season diversion. My answer was "George Scott" (2nd time around), but my memory has failed me a bit. I was eight in '75, so I remember hearing of the Sox making a run, and then learning about post-season games the following morning, but I wasn’t watching, and only knew a few players by name. I paid more attention in '76, but alas, Boomer was in Milwaukee that year. So really, Yaz was in fact the first 1B I remember. And I do remember him playing first, but my overall recollections of Yaz - and I was big Yaz fan - is as a LF. So I guess I wasn’t really watching games in earnest until '77.
That said, it's interesting that 1st basemen are marking the different eras (or at least different seasons) for so many posters. To me, the real definitive change was across the diamond. Folks just a touch older than I am watched the celebrated Rico Petrocelli. (Is "celebrated" hyperbolic? I think he was a guy that fans just took a liking to, deservedly.) I can't recall seeing much of him, although he split time with Hobson in '76. I never gave any though to which 1B I initially watched, but I remember - even as a kid - thinking that I had become a fan during “Hobson”, having missed “Petrocelli”.
I was excited and optimistic when Butch came back to manage. Oh well.
I also remember (growing up in New England on the front lines of The Rivalry) that kids would "debate" whether the Sox or yanks had the better player, position by position. Yaz (or Scott) vs Chamblis might be a heated verbal argument. Fisk vs Munson could lead to physical fights. I don't recall anyone taking a punch defending Hobson over Nettles. But I do remember Butch making some spectacular catches running into the dugout.
Boomer '77, final answer. Or Yaz.
Funny forgot Rico played 3rd. Always thought of him at SS. In 1971 when they got Aparicio he had an 0-40 or 44 stretch.
It`s cool he played about the same at both positions. In 1968 he played one game at 1B. Would be funny if someone put him on here for that 1 game.http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/who-is-the-first-red-sox-first-baseman-you-can-remember.21756/reply"e=2634627
Yeah, I didn't mean to refer to Rico as a career 3B...just shows what a late part of his career I (vaguely) remember.
In person or on TV? If in person, I am also Dave Stapleton, which is profoundly fucked up.Maybe this should be its own thread but which Red Sox player hit the first home run that you remember?
I saw Ellis Kinder hit one in a televised game at Comiskey Park on August 6, 1950. And the first one I saw in person was hit by Hoot Evers at Fenway against the Indians on August 21, 1952 (Dick Gernert at 1B, George Kell at 3B -- Evers, Kell, Johnny Lipon, Dizzy Trout from the Tigers for Walt Dropo, Fred Hatfield, Don Lenhardt, Johnny Pesky, Bill Wight -- June 3, 1952).
The person who took me to that game worked with the brother of Cleveland's catcher at GE in Lynn. I sat in row three directly behind home plate with my baseball glove watching all the balls roll down the screen. However, I did learn to keep score, thus beginning my life-long love of baseball stats and I also got a baseball (that I still have) autographed by the Indians team that has five HoFers on it, including the first black to play in the AL.
Wow, a mention of Hoot Evers! He caused me to become a Red Sox fan because listening to the radio as a six year old, I imagined him looking like an owl. That was before I ever heard about Ted Williams! The rest of my family liked the Cardinals since that was the only team we could get on the radio (KMOX). My first live home run was hit by Dick Gernert in the old Kansas City Municipal Stadium on Brooklyn Avenue. Williams played in that game but could only manage a single.I saw Ellis Kinder hit one in a televised game at Comiskey Park on August 6, 1950. And the first one I saw in person was hit by Hoot Evers at Fenway against the Indians on August 21, 1952 (Dick Gernert at 1B, George Kell at 3B -- Evers, Kell, Johnny Lipon, Dizzy Trout from the Tigers for Walt Dropo, Fred Hatfield, Don Lenhardt, Johnny Pesky, Bill Wight -- June 3, 1952).
You don’t mean that Hoot Evers was the first Sox pitcher you saw hit a home run, do you? Evers was a career outfielder.Maybe this should be its own thread but which Red Sox player hit the first home run that you remember?
I saw Ellis Kinder hit one in a televised game at Comiskey Park on August 6, 1950. And the first one I saw in person was hit by Hoot Evers at Fenway against the Indians on August 21, 1952 (Dick Gernert at 1B, George Kell at 3B -- Evers, Kell, Johnny Lipon, Dizzy Trout from the Tigers for Walt Dropo, Fred Hatfield, Don Lenhardt, Johnny Pesky, Bill Wight -- June 3, 1952).
The person who took me to that game worked with the brother of Cleveland's catcher at GE in Lynn. I sat in row three directly behind home plate with my baseball glove watching all the balls roll down the screen. However, I did learn to keep score, thus beginning my life-long love of baseball stats and I also got a baseball (that I still have) autographed by the Indians team that has five HoFers on it, including the first black to play in the AL.
I said the first home run I saw hit by a Red Sox player was on television by Ellis Kinder in 1950 and the first home run I saw in person by a Red Sox player was by Hoot Evers at Fenway Park in 1952. I didn't say anything about a pitcher (but I'm well aware of the positions each played).You don’t mean that Hoot Evers was the first Sox pitcher you saw hit a home run, do you? Evers was a career outfielder.
OK, read it wrong. I Always thought Evers looked somewhat like a RHH Ted Williams, at least in their 1951 Bowman baseball cards.I said the first home run I saw hit by a Red Sox player was on television by Ellis Kinder in 1950 and the first home run I saw in person by a Red Sox player was by Hoot Evers at Fenway Park in 1952. I didn't say anything about a pitcher (but I'm well aware of the positions each played).