A Milestone Achieved
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by user The shark
Write down this day in history - May 28, 2006. Something happened today that has only happened once before in the history of Major League Baseball.
And as a result, one man will go down in history for having done what only one other man had ever done. That's right...welcome to baseball lore...
...Byung-Hyun Kim. The second player ever to surrender another player's 715th homerun.
I suppose this is a good thing for the once-promising hotheaded Korean. Until today, he was destined to be remembered for only one thing: trying to throw the 2001 World Series single-handedly. A game-tying homer to Tino Martinez in the 9th inning of Game 4, followed by a game-winning shot to Derek Jeter in the 10th. And then, one game later, surrendering a game-tying shot to Scott Brosius in the ninth inning of a game the D-Backs would eventually lose in the 12th.
Sure, the harsh glare of history would eventually soften, especially when the lanky Korean made new headlines by flicking off the Fenway Faithful, unappreciative of a hearty booing after one of his many sorry performances for the Red Sox in 2003. But the brass tacks is this: Byung-Hyun Kim has been a failure for the entire balance of his Major League career. But today - Saturday, May 28, 2006 - everything changed. With a soft melon of an 87 mph fastball, Byung-Hyun Kim firmly cemented his name in baseball lore by joining Al Downing in the most exclusive club in MLB history.
Al Downing was a good Major League pitcher and by all accounts an affable chap. A career record of 123-107, an ERA of 3.22, and 1639 career strikeouts. Those are solid numbers for an 18 year career, but they are far from memorable. He played with the likes of Mantle and Maris, Garvey and Cey, pitched in World Series games and All-Star Games, and logged a twenty win season. But his name would be long forgotten if not for one thing. On a cool evening in April 1974, he surrendered the first ever 715th homerun in MLB history. And for the past 32 years, he has remained the only man ever to do so. Until today.
So take a deep breath B-H-K and soak it in. It doesn't get any better than this. There is no shame in surrendering a deep ball - it happens twenty times a day. The differnce is that, for this one, your name will go down in history. You will be remembered forever. And the best part is - there's no need for an asterisk. Unlike your historical counterpart, you earned your place in the annuls the right way, the natural way. The clean way. And for that, you should be proud.
Date
Mon 05/29/06, 12:34 pm EST
