Glenallen Hill recalls the shot heard ’round the rooftops
In a parking lot where sides were chosen up long ago, it was possible to “roof” a baseball by belting one onto the shingles of the high school gymnasium. You had to get all of it, and then it was game over, unless one of the neighborhood kids brought a spare ball.
Before Friday’s 51s game against Albuquerque, I spoke with the only man who has roofed a baseball at Wrigley Field.
On May 11, 2000, with the wind blowing out, Isotopes manager Glenallen Hill, then playing for the Cubs, took a compact swing — “like chopping wood” — at a 2-and-0 offering from Milwaukee’s Steve Woodard. When the ball hit his bat, it sounded like rams butting horns.
Take it away, Chip Caray:
“OHMIGOSH! He hit it onto the roof! He hit it on the roof across the street! I have never seen that. On top of the building!
Glenallen Hill still gets asked about the shot heard ’round the rooftops, especially by Cubs fans.
“I’m more than happy to talk about it,” he said in the visitors’ dugout at Cashman Field.
“I got into a 2-and-0 count, and I kinda spread out a little bit. For you young hitters, here’s some free hitting advice: Whenever you get into a situation where a sinkerballer has to make a pitch, he’s going to throw a sinker, and the one you can hit and hit hard is the one that is up and in.”
Maybe so, but nobody has ever hit a sinker — or any other pitch, for that matter — a towering 456 feet onto a Chicago rooftop during an official game.
“Let me just say that when you hit balls like that, they all feel the same,” said the big man who spent 13 seasons in the big leagues. “If someone were to throw you a golf ball, and you hit it with a baseball bat as hard as you can swing it and make perfect contact, that’s probably what it would feel like.”
When Glenallen Hill was asked if he got all of that one, he said yes, it sure felt like it.
The Acorn with pop
At a book signing for “Once There Were Giants,” his tribute to the golden era of heavyweight boxing, author Jerry Izenberg said fellow Southern Nevada resident Earnie Shavers was the “hardest one-punch heavyweight” he had seen.
“What about all-time?” asked Shavers, whom Muhammad Ali called “The Acorn” and who was sitting alongside at Barnes & Noble in Henderson.
Izenberg briefly rubbed his chin. He asked Shavers, once a preacher, if he still had his Bible.
“When you get home, look up Samson.”
The Andersons file
Tyler Anderson of Spring Valley High and the Colorado Rockies, last seen inciting the ire of Clayton Kershaw for taking a couple of extra warmup tosses before a game — to paraphrase Sgt. Hulka’s advice to Francis “Psycho” Sawyer in the movies: “Lighten up, Clayton” — is one of 11 guys named Anderson who have appeared in spring training or major league games this season.
Ponder that during the next replay review.
In addition to Tyler of the Rockies, there’s Brett of the Cubs, Brian of the Marlins, Chase of the Brewers, Cody of the Indians, Cole of the Rockies, Drew of the Phillies, Jack of the Mariners, Justin of the Angels, Nick of the Twins and Tim of the White Sox.
The perfect man to manage them: George Anderson, who batted. 218 for the 1959 Phillies. You may know him better as Sparky.
For those scoring at home, or just enduring a replay review, the most popular surname of 2017 is Perez, which appears 24 times on baseball cards.
As far as keeping up with the Joneses, of which there are 16, you can only do it if your last name is Diaz (16), Garcia (19), Gonzalez (18), Rodriguez (21) or Smith (20).
0:01
Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, one of those facilities where rich guys pay big money to drive fast cars beyond their level of expertise, is in talks to construct a sprawling 15-mile road course. If built, it would be the world’s longest.
The infamous Nurburgring old course in Germany was 13.1 miles long and nicknamed “The Green Hell” by Sir Jackie Stewart. It no longer is used for Grand Prix racing because it is considered too dangerous.
Uh-oh.
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.
