Anthony Rizzo probably won’t be getting a check for his charity foundation from ATI Physical Therapy for hitting the company’s advertisement Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, as he did from Anheuser-Busch for smoking a home run off the “d” in the Budweiser sign Wednesday night.
The ATI ad is affixed to a green door near the 368-foot marker in right field, so as much as Rizzo admired his shot — and he did briefly stand at the plate watching the flight — it was merely a two-run double and not an eye-popping home run Cubs fans will talk about for years.
The only damage Rizzo left this time was a small dent.
Now that summer has unofficially arrived in Chicago and the winds have shifted at Wrigley, we’re going to see a lot more games like Saturday’s, which featured six home runs in the Cubs’ 8-6 win over the Reds.
Two months into the season, we’re on a record home-run pace again, thanks to myriad factors that include launch angles, increasing fastball velocities and the return of the (allegedly) juiced baseball.
“It’s been crazy,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Even (Kyle) Schwarber’s homer (onto Sheffield Avenue on Friday), I know that was hit well, but, dang, that wind was blowing pretty firmly across. I don’t know. I’m normally not into the subplot component and the conspiracy theories, but I’m telling you, it’s absolutely jumping.
“You watch games in Milwaukee — it’s not Miller Lite, it’s Coors Light. The ball is just flying out of there. Nobody will ever admit to it, but the ball … when the wind is being penetrated here … it’s really weird. I’m sure somebody knows.”
With 2,009 home runs through Friday, Major League Baseball was on pace for 6,483, which would easily surpass the 2017 record of 6,105. The 14 games played Friday featured 59 homers, the second-highest total of any day in baseball history behind the record 62 hit in 16 games on July 2, 2002, during the Steroid Era.
So is this home-run barrage good for baseball?
“As a hitter it’s good, and as a fan you want to see home runs,” Rizzo said after Saturday’s game. “I don’t know if it’s just a spike in the number of people hitting a bunch of homers, but I do think guys are more comfortable facing pitchers throwing 95, 97, 100 miles an hour more than the last couple years because it’s now the entire league throwing that hard.”
The Cubs began the day with their second-highest home-run total (77) through 50 games, trailing only the 83 homers the 2000 club hit. Sammy Sosa, who finished with 50 that year, led the 2000 barrage.
The distance of the homers also seems to be climbing. Rizzo’s shot off the Bud sign on top of the right-field video board was estimated at 472 feet by Statcast, tied for the fifth-longest in 2019 and 10 feet shorter than Nomar Mazara’s blast off Cubs reliever Mike Montgomery on March 28 in Texas.
It would’ve been interesting to see if Rizzo’s homer would have hit one of the buildings across Sheffield, but, alas, it could not clear the sign.
“That was about all I got,” Rizzo said. “I thought I had it cleared.”
Informed that Barry Bonds once hit one through an apartment window on Sheffield, Rizzo replied: “That’d be cool. But I don’t think I have enough power for that.”
Either way, Rizzo’s Bud blast made a lasting impression, joining other prodigious shots at Wrigley by Roberto Clemente (1959), Dave Kingman (1976 and 1979), Glenallen Hill (2000), Sosa (2003) and Schwarber (2015 postseason).
Hill’s home run on May 11, 2000, may be the most legendary as it landed on the rooftop of a building across Waveland Avenue. The Cubs estimated the distance at 490 feet, which seemed conservative. Hill joked afterward it was more than 700 feet but added he wasn’t taking any pleasure in the distance.
“In 20 years I might,” he said. “But right now, because we lost the game, it doesn’t feel too good.”
Nineteen years later, Hill’s feat has never been replicated.
Reds outfielder Yasiel Puig hit a monster shot off Yu Darvish on Saturday and watched it sail over the bleachers onto Waveland, where a fan retrieved the ball after it deflected off a tree.
It was the fifth home run to clear the ballpark in 2019, according to the ballhawks who stand on the street during games and keep track of such things. Only four balls landed on the street all last season, according to unofficial ballhawk records. They don’t count balls that hit a fan or an object before going over the fence.
Ballhawk “Super Dave” Davison offered the fan $200 Saturday for Puig’s street shot, plus a “ringer” ball for the fan to throw back onto the field. The fan turned Davison down and threw the real ball back, a financially unsound decision he may one day regret.
But perhaps he’ll get another chance soon. While Saturday’s game was only the seventh time the wind has blown out at Wrigley in 27 home games, that number should steadily rise as the summer heats up. Aiming for buildings or Bud signs will be standard operating procedure if the ball is as juiced as everyone believes.
“If the ball is juiced up a little, I certainly can’t complain about it,” Rizzo said.
Better the ball than the players.
Twitter @PWSullivan
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