Jimmy Rollins’ third career home run is what you’d call a “no-doubter”.
In May of 2001 at the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, the then-Phillies rookie had a 2-0 count against St. Louis Cardinals southpaw Steve Kline, a 29-year-old in the midst of his fifth big league season.
Rollins pumped the offering from Kline into the second deck, capping it off with a bat flip before trotting around the bases. Kline eyed down Rollins and was seen shouting at him in the process.
“I called him every name in the book,” Kline later said. “That’s f------ Little League s---. If you’re going to flip the bat, I’m going to flip your helmet next time. There’s a code, he should know better than that.”
Reflecting on that moment on Audacy’s “Unwritten: Behind Baseball’s Secret Rules” podcast, Rollins told his side.
“Every once in a while, a batter hits a ball and you know, and he knows, and everyone in the stadium knows -- as my man Brandon Phillips says -- I got every stitch of that ball,” Rollins told his co-host Ron Darling. “I’ve never hit a ball that far in my life, there was a lot going on that day. Had a lot of energy, had a lot of anger, and I got to a 2-0 count, he threw a fastball right down the middle. Now, I understand that I (was) a rookie – that didn’t matter to me in that moment. In that moment, you threw a 2-0 fastball, I absolutely demolished it and I went into my own zone.
“At the time, Steve took it for what he thought was disrespect. I’m like, I hit the ball farther than I’ve ever hit it in my career, I just kind of let the bat roll out of my hand and jogged around the bases. It had nothing to do with him. But I understand because being on the other side, seeing rookies, as we call it, ‘pimping’ the ball, it was like ‘Come on bro, you need a little more time before you can do that,’ so I get it. But for me, not at all. That ball was absolutely crushed and I enjoyed every second of it.”
Had such a moment played out in this era in baseball, the reaction likely would have been different.
Regardless, it really was an incredible blast.
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