Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Above all else Major League Baseball should be fun. In my opinion there is nothing better in the entire game than seeing a bunch of grown men act crazy because they are simply having fun playing the game they love. The Oakland Athletics seem to be better at this than most teams. Whether happy because of a comeback win or because J.R. Reddick finally shaved enough beard off for you to see his face, they just have fun with the game. The leadoff homer by Adam Rosales provided another bunch of fun on Friday against the New York Yankees.
Rosales was making his first career start in the lead-off spot of the batting order. He had said that leading off on the road would be great because you get to see the first pitch of the game. Funny then, that the very first pitch of the game thrown by C.C. Sabathia ended up in the left field seats as a lead-off homer. The real fun was what came next.
No matter how many homeruns you see each week you see about that many homerun trots. Some admire for a few seconds and jog all cool around the bases. Some stand for a brief second and then almost walk around the bases. A select few don’t admire the long-ball and just jog at normal jogging pace around the base paths. Rosales does none of these.
By the time the ball landed in the seats and the camera switched back to see his trot, Rosales was already at second base. From the crack of the bat he was sprinting at about three-quarter speed at least. While he was sprinting the dugout was smiling and Rosales had the biggest smile on his face I think I’ve ever seen.
Even now typing this article it makes me smile. How great to see a guy that just loves the idea of hitting a homer and can’t wait to get to his dugout to high five his friends. Yes, I said friends not teammates. Somehow for the A’s it seems that way. Maybe it should be for everyone. After all they did win the game 2 – 0.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+.
