LONGBALL BASEBALL GAME

baseball game

baseball: a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; “he played baseball in high school”; “there was a baseball game on every empty lot”; “there was a desire for National League ball in the area”; “play ball!”
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longball

In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle all the bases in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process.

longball baseball game – Twilight of

Twilight of the Long-ball Gods: Dispatches from the Disappearing Heart of Baseball

A report from the true heart of baseball, this anthology leaves behind the bad boys and big names of the major leagues to take readers to the places where the spirit of America’s game resides. These are a veteran sportswriter’s dispatches from the bush leagues and the sandlot, his tributes to the Negro leaguers, mining-town dreamers, and certifiable eccentrics who give baseball its heart and soul, laughter and tears.

John Schulian, a long-time Sports Illustrated contributor and former Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist, puts together a portrait of a disappearing America—a place inhabited by star-crossed Negro Leagues slugger Josh Gibson; by a vagabond player still toiling for the Durham Bulls at thirty-six; by the coach who created the Eskimo Pie League for kids in a Utah copper-mining town. When he does venture into the big leagues, Schulian gives us the underdogs and the human touches, from Bill Veeck peg-legging toward retirement as the game’s last maverick team owner, to musings on Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe at Christmas, to Studs Terkel’s reflections on baseball. In the end, though, this collection belongs to the kid at a tryout camp, the washed-out semipro following the game on his car radio, the players who were the toasts of outposts from Roswell to Wisconsin Rapids—and to the readers who keep the spirit of the game alive.

Adam Dunn

Adam Troy Dunn (born November 9, 1979, in Houston, Texas), is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. A former standout quarterback at New Caney (Texas) High School, Dunn signed with the University of Texas however, Dunn quit football and concentrated on baseball. The Reds drafted Dunn in the second round of the 1998 amateur draft while he was still an active collegian.
He was elected to the 2002 National League All-Star team. In that game, Dunn hit a ball to center field that was a few feet from being a game ending home run (the game famously ended in a tie). He also walked in his only other plate appearance.

At six feet, six inches (198 cm) in height and weighing 275 pounds, Dunn, who is one of the National League’s most feared sluggers, invites frequent comparisons to Mark McGwire.

Adam Dunn’s most productive season came in 2004, when he posted career highs in batting average (.266), home runs (46), runs (105), hits (151), on base percentage (.388), slugging average (.569), and OPS (.957). He also held the single-season strikeout record (195) before Ryan Howard broke it on September 27, 2007.

Dunn made his Major League debut on July 20, 2001 and set a National League rookie record for the most home runs in a month by hitting 12 in August. On September 30, 2004, Dunn once again got his name in Major League Baseball’s record book albeit not in the manner he wished. That day, Dunn struck out three times against Chicago Cubs right-hander Mark Prior, raising his season total to 191 and surpassing Bobby Bonds’ single season strikeout record of 189, set in 1970. He finished the season with 195 strikeouts. Later Ryan Howard struck out 199 times in the 2007 season.

Dunn’s 46 longballs in 2004 were the fourth most in Cincinnati Reds history. That year, he joined Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan as the only Reds players to score 100 runs, drive in 100 runs, and draw 100 walks in a single season. Dunn repeated the feat the following season making him the only player in Reds history to do it more than once.

On Mother’s Day, May 14, 2006, Dunn was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation.

In 2004, 2005, and 2006, he struck out 34.3%, 30.9%, and 34.6% of the time, in each year the highest percentage in major league baseball.[1] Despite the high strikeout total, Dunn often exhibits good plate discipline. He is among the major league leaders every season in number of pitches per at-bat, an indication that he generally knows when to swing and when not to. Although his career batting average is only .246, he has compiled a .384 on-base percentage while striking out about ten times for every six walks and averages more than one strikeout per game. He always is one of the top receivers in base on balls. However, his main weakness continues to be his tendency to strike out. Many point out that his on-base percentage is actually higher than several hitters with batting averages over .300 each year.

Adam Dunn has the fifth lowest career AB/HR (at bats per home run) average in major league history. His 13.96 (about 1 HR every 14 times he comes to bat) is eclipsed only by Mark McGwire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76), Barry Bonds (12.90), and Jim Thome (13.68). Stretching behind Dunn are such hall-of-famers as Kiner, Killebrew, Williams, Mantle, Foxx, and Schmidt, in that order.

On October 31, 2007, Dunn’s $13 million dollar option was picked up by the Reds, making him the highest-paid player on the team.

On June 19th, 2008 Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi cited Dunn’s lack of passion for baseball as a deterrent for acquiring the outfielder during a Toronto call-in radio show. Ricciardi later publicly apologized for his statements but has yet to speak to Dunn personally about his comments.

On June 29th, 2008 Adam Dunn won the Ohio Cup MVP when he went 6-for-20 in the six-game series, with 5 home runs (HR) and 10 RBIs.

[edit] Position changes

In December, 2005, Reds manager Jerry Narron informed the press that, due to the trade of popular first baseman Sean Casey to the Pittsburgh Pirates for left-handed pitcher Dave Williams, Adam Dunn would be moving to first base for the 2006 season. However, with the acquisition of free agent first baseman Scott Hatteberg (who played for the Oakland Athletics in 2005) during spring training and the March 20 trade of outfielder Wily Mo Pena to the Boston Red Sox for right-handed pitcher Bronson Arroyo, the plan to convert Dunn was scrapped (Dunn had mentioned that he would rather not play 1B also) and, to date, he has only played 108 games there.

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Derek Lowe throws longball before the game

longball baseball game

The home run has changed the game of baseball, moving it into a sport where might makes right and fans clamor for the clout. Home Run’s Most Wanted™: The Top 10 Book of Monumental Dingers, Prodigious Swingers, and Everything Long-Ball celebrates all there is about the home run, from the folks that hit it, the guys that serve it up, and even the voices proclaiming, “It’s outta here!”

David Vincent, called “The Sultan of Swat Stats” by ESPN, brings it all to you in this fact-filled smorgasbord of home run knowledge. His detailed and varied top-ten lists include top home run totals position by position; players with the most homers against the Yankees; the youngest and oldest to “go yard”; pitchers who surrendered the most homers; the states that have birthed the most top hitters; home run hitters with the longest last names; and even the top totals for players with the common last name of Williams.

There’s so much more, too. With a database of every single round-tripper ever hit, Vincent can present just about anything home run related you can imagine, and does so in this book. From the interesting and surprising to the humorous and just plain offbeat, Home Run’s Most Wanted™ fills the bases with fun trivia about the longest ball of them all.