Celebrate the Little League World Series with 10 of the most fun 'Little League' homers from MLB
Before you were strong enough to smash the ball out of the park, there was only one way to hit a home run: Watch error after error compound into an inside-the-park home run. While the Little Leaguers playing in Williamsport this weekend are probably too talented to make that many mistakes, the nickname "Little League home run" endures. And, believe it or not, the chaotic plays somehow occasionally happen in the big leagues, too.
These are ten of the most fun:
Tommy John had a great career. He won 288 games across a 26-year career and even has a surgery named for him. He also managed to commit three errors on one play to let Jeffrey Leonard run around the bases.
How many home runs have you seen that came off of half-swing hybrid-bunts? While
Even better: This was the first at-bat of the game.
Possibly even better than that: Fernandez had scored on a Little League home run the day before against the Indians, too.
Of course, if you want out-and-out full bunts, then Souza's Little Leaguer is for you. With enough rain that you could mistake this scene for something from "The Notebook," Souza dropped down a ball and ran around the bases on two throwing errors.
The Cubs' third base phenom is battling with
While Bryant's Little League homer was long enough to escape at least a handful of ballparks, Cabrera's was roughly 1/100th of that. When he hit a soft grounder back to Christian Friedrich in 2012, the odds were likely somehwere around 1/1000000000000 that Cabrera -- far from the most fleet of foot -- would then cross home plate on the same play.
Jon Lester once had a 66-game streak where he didn't attempt a pickoff to first. And, when it's time for him to make a toss to first during a play, things can get ... hairy. Long before anyone thought it was a problem, though, there were some signs of it. Like on this day.
Rosario is not a very fast man -- which is OK, not many catchers are. But thanks to the Brewers seemingly playing the worst ever game of monkey in the middle, Rosario was able to come around to score while the ball flew back and forth between the infield and outfield.
Most Little League home runs come from the ball being thrown too far. Moustakas got his for the opposite reason. After
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Bases loaded, player hits a double and then comes around to score thanks to an error. No? You haven't?
Oh and when Bogaerts pulled this one off, he finished it with one heck of a slide. I'd like to see a Little Leaguer pull that one off.
Of course, grand slams are fun, but walk-offs are even better. And when they are of the Little League variety, the excitement can't even be contained. Down by one to the Nationals and with
But somehow ... chaos reigns.