These are the best ways to celebrate while rounding the bases after hitting a home run
<> at Wrigley Field on August 12, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.
(Jon Durr)
By
Michael Clair
A home run is a reason to celebrate. After all, you have just hit a moving, dipping, spinning baseball some 400-plus feet. That often means flipping your bat into the air in a shout of "Hooray!" But the celebration doesn't need to stop in the batter's box. No, today we're looking at the myriad ways in which you can celebrate while rounding the bases. Here they are: The Point It's simple and to the, well, point. Usually used when you've won the game, this is to emphasize that "I hit this home run for you guys!" Adam Frazier used the point when he walked off vs. the Cubs on Aug. 19:
The Football Just because we haven't had a two-sport star in the Major Leagues since those heady 1990s days when Bo Jackson, Brian Jordan and Deion Sanders took the field doesn't mean we don't have players who dream of doing both. Enter: Giancarlo Stanton, a man with the size to certainly dominate in the NFL who receives a handoff as he rounds third base:
The Go Away This is the move for the player that shuns the spotlight. When Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off home run to defeat the Phillies on Aug. 22, he was left to languish on second base, with all eyes on him, while the umpires reviewed the play. Once it was done and the little whirlybird motion meant he could finish his trot, all he wanted was to round the bases in silent peace:
The Smile Lorenzo Cain is one of the smiliest players in baseball. Cain couldn't contain himself when he homered against the Cubs on June 13. Given how great it must have felt, we don't begrudge him that, either.
The Airplane This one should only be used when you hit a home run so cool, so far, or so intense that you put your arms out because at any moment you might actually take flight. David Bote showed this one off -- along with a pretty majestic bat flip -- when he hit a walk-off grand slam against the Nationals on Aug. 12.
The Very, Very Slow Home runs count just the same no matter how long it takes you to round the bases. So, why not soak it all in? That's what Nationals pitcher A.J. Cole did when he hit his first big league home run on April 3 against the Braves. It looks like he seriously thought about just shuffling his feet around the bases:
Of course, he's got nothing on Johnny Cueto, who ensured that Hunter Pence would have to almost crawl around the bases last year:
The Long Walk Related to the tortoise-like trot above but in its own class is the long walk down the line. When Maikel Franco hit a walk-off home run against the Marlins, he provided his own punctuation with a seemingly out of control bat flip to give an exclamation mark on his evening stroll.
The Edwing It will be hard for this one to live on as it's Edwin Encarnacion's signature home run trot, but hopefully he'll pass it down before he retires the same way a famous mage passes down his wand and magical powers to the next great wizard.
The Shrug This one is extraordinarily rare. After all, you can either celebrate or not celebrate. A shrug of the shoulders seems to indicate hesitation between both. It seems fitting then that Buster Posey is the one who used the shrug when he went deep against the Phillies on June 3.
The Fist Pump It's a classic. But there is a reason they're known as a classic. While not every home run can be as impressive as Kirk Gibson's World Series homer, Leury García busted out the "I'm so pleased with myself!" pump when he homered against the Royals on July 13.
The "I'm Just Doing My Job, Ma'am" Which player can you most easily imagine starring as the by-the-book detective in a 1950s cop serial? Yup, Mike Trout. So, when he homered against the Giants on April 21, he gave a so-subtle-you-might-miss-it helmet tip.
And sure enough, when he's done rounding the bases, he also loves nothing more than giving a strictly business handshake. What a pro.
The Primal Scream Andrew McCutchen usually plays it cool -- like when he did a little soft shoe to cross the plate. But sometimes even he must let loose with a guttural yawp. So, when Cutch went deep against the Dodgers with his first home run in a Giants uniform, he nearly Super Saiyan'd on his way out of the box.
This ... thing I don't even know how to explain it. It's dance. It's performance art. It's ... Carlos Gómez at his very, very best.
The Start of a Musical Dance Number The use of video review has only aided some genuinely phenomenal home run trots. Having waited at second base, Justin Upton gave a massive leg kick to start the second half of his trot against the A's on April 3. It looks less like a leg kick though than someone about to jump onto a lamppost and start singing about the rain.
The Double Check Want more replay review shenanigans? Enter the second-best-sideburns-in-baseball Mark Canha. His home run trot against the Astros on April 27 had him looking over his shoulder more than Satchel Paige ever would have allowed.
It's something he's pretty good at:
The Bubble Blow If you want to look happy, carefree and totally at ease when hitting walk-off home runs, then you should take a lesson from the guy who seems to hit them in his sleep, Wilmer Flores. When the infielder went deep against the Phillies on July 9, he punctuated his down-the-line home run by blowing a bubble. "Isn't this just the most routine thing in the world?" the move seems to ask. And we have to say, "No, Wilmer, you're just remarkably good at it."
