M’s Sam Haggerty Joins Griffey in Hitting Ball Out of Stadium
Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame Center Fielder Ken Griffey, Jr. once famously batted a ball so far it completely went out of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and hit the B & O Warehouse ACROSS the street in Baltimore during the 1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Home Run Derby back in 1993.
A Hurculean feat to be sure but when a batter with Junior's talent is getting batting practice-type pitches grooved into his wheelhouse, there was always a chance it could happen. It did and he was the first to ever accomplish that feat.
To do it in an actual game against live pitches coming in and curving at 95+ MPH is a whole other story. Griffey also once creamed a ball during a regular season game that went out of the same ball park landing just in front of the warehouse on Eutaw (pronounced like the state of Utah). He was the only Mariners player to ever do that as well.
Until last night.
Enter M's 26 year-old backup outfielder Sam Haggerty - a man who has only played in 30 MLB games and come up to bat just 73 times with one career home run under his belt. With the M's down to their final three outs in trailing 6-4 in game 2 of a doubleheader, Haggerty absolutely mauled a pitch out to right field that went entirely out of the stadium landing on Eutaw Street to tie the game at 6-6.
A hit that even the great Ken Griffey, Junior would have been proud of. Here, now, the only two Mariners to ever go yard - and the STREET - in Baltimore:
Sam Haggerty - Seattle Mariners vs. Baltimore Orioles