Home Run Derby

As a purveyor of a Home Run Derby contest … I have to admit I love Cincinnati Reds slugger Adam Dunn. 

Every time he steps to the dish, he’s a serious threat to put the ball in the seats. 

• He’s a lock for 40 Home Runs every season
• He has the longest current 40-Home Run streak (4 seasons) of any active player in baseball
• He’s on pace again in 2008 with 23 Home Runs already.
• Since 2004, only Alex Rodriguez (191) and David Ortiz (190) have more Home Runs than Dunn (189) - and I think he’ll surpass them by the end of the season.

What makes him even more fun is that he’s an certifiable adventure in left field - and not in a good way. 

He might be the worst left fielder I’ve ever seen - and I know something about bad fielding (ask Nick the Greek about my legendary anti-prowess in the field back in intramural softball).

Every time a ball is hit to left, he’s a serious threat to put the ball on the ground. 

• He has a .968 Fielding Percentage in LF since 2002 - which is the worst of any LF who qualified for at least two seasons in that span. 
• Since 2002 - he has 53 errors in LF - 17 more than any other player in that timeframe. 
• He’s already got five errors in LF this season. 

Here’s one of them right now …

So imagine my surprise to find out that Adam Dunn has a signature glove. 

Louisville Slugger makes that error-assisting machine.  What the Hell are they thinking?

Maybe Dunn had that signature put on himself.  But it looks like it was stitched in by the manufacturer.  Personally, if I’m Louisville Slugger … I don’t want Adam Dunn associated with one of my gloves - even if he bought it himself.  I’d file a restraining order to keep him away from tainting my product.

Bats are fine.  Batting gloves are fine.  But definitely not a fielding glove for one of the worst fielding outfielders in the history of the game.

The picture of Willie McCovey had a better shot at catching that ball than Dunn did. And he wasn’t even wearing a glove. And he’s a picture.

By the way … there’s a bug in the “MLB ‘08 - The Show” video game.  Because Adam Dunn would NEVER make this catch.

Seriously … it’s a shame that some cow gave up its hide only to end up assisting Adam Dunn make errors in Left Field. I’m surprised PETA hasn’t complained about Dunn’s glove being cruelty to animals.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Gloves, Great Catch, MLB Home Run Derby, Reds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.