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  1. #14
    Member klw's Avatar
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    Re: Joey Votto and the pop up

    Quote Originally Posted by BCubb2003 View Post
    A commenter in the first link said that when Billy Hamilton was playing shortstop, he once caught a ball on the warning track. Has anybody else heard of that? I suppose a high, wind-blown ball and Hamilton's speed might make it possible.
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz2WDMhVZme
    The most unbelievable thing DeShields saw Billy do happened last year during spring training. "There was a ball hit to deep to leftfield, and the leftfielder throws his hands up because he's lost the ball in the sun," says DeShields. "I'm watching the ball, and thinking, This is trouble, and out of nowhere, I see this white flash, and I see that it's Billy, and he's running full speed. He ends up diving, laying out completely, and makes the catch at the warning track in leftfield. It was ridiculous. There isn't a player out there who would have caught that ball."
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/sp...anted=all&_r=0

    Tales of Hamilton’s incredible speed are collected and passed around the lower levels of the game the way folks used to tell stories of the great Negro leagues speedster Cool Papa Bell, who was said to be so fast he could hit a grounder through the box and be hit by the ball as he slid into second base.

    In Bakersfield, Calif., Hamilton scored on a sacrifice fly — to the second baseman. He also scored from third when the catcher threw to first to complete a strikeout. In high school, Hamilton once made a fine running catch on the warning track. Not so unusual, except he was playing shortstop at the time.
    http://www.howtorunfasternow.com/spo...illy-hamilton/
    Delino DeShields, a former big-leaguer and manager of Hamilton’s rookie team in Billings, Montana, told a story of a pop-up to the left fielder who promptly lost the ball in the sun. Out of nowhere, Hamilton dives and catches the ball at the warning track, IN LEFT FIELD. No other player could have done that. DeShields had seen all the fast players before – Otis Nixon, Deion Sanders, Vince Coleman – but he had never seen a play like that before.

    Dusty Hillman, his high school coach, tells a story of a ball that was hit in the gap in right field between the center fielder, right fielder, and second baseman. Hillman thought it would be a sure double, but out of nowhere Hamilton runs in from his shortstop position to make an over the shoulder catch. He ran full speed to get to it.

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    RedEye (06-14-2013)


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