Ryan Howard gets nostalgic with grand slam against Rockies
The last few weeks have produced some nostalgic moments around Major League Baseball.
From Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza being inducted into the Hall of Fame, to Ichiro Suzuki collecting his 3,000th MLB hit, to Alex Rodriguez calling it a career with the New York Yankees on Friday night, we’ve been able to reflect on some great moments that helped shape and define our love for baseball.
Now we can throw Ryan Howard in that mix too. Despite being relegated to a part-time player for the Phillies this season, Howard has still shown he can hit the long ball with 16 home runs coming into the weekend. On Friday though, he looked like prime Ryan Howard in Philadelphia’s 10-6 win against the Rockies, as he absolutely obliterated a Jon Gray offering for his 14th career grand slam.
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— Phillies (@Phillies) August 13, 2016
That. Was. Crushed.
According to Statcast, the slam traveled 455 feet. Somewhat surprisingly, it was Philadelphia’s first slam of the season. Even more surprisingly, Arizona, Atlanta and Cleveland still don’t have one.
Also worth noting, the only players with more grand slam since Howard debuted in 2005 is, you guessed, Alex Rodriguez. He has 15 during that time frame.
Oh, and one last note. The Phillies honored Jim Thome on Friday night by inducting him into the team’s Wall of Fame. If you recall, it was Howard who took Thome’s first base job and made him expandable.
.@ryanhoward with the ultimate homage to Jim Thome: https://t.co/k3jYaXr34l #PapaSlamhttps://t.co/85Ll5hImXY
— MLB (@MLB) August 13, 2016
As you can see from Thome’s celebration, there are no hard feelings of course. But it’s definitely cool to see Howard raise his game again with Big Jim in town.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
