Let's look back at all the sights, sounds and pure joy of Bartolo's wonderful home run
Let's say you didn't get to pay much attention to baseball this weekend. Maybe you had a wedding to attend. Maybe you were out of the country. Maybe you and your internet connection were swallowed by Iggy Iguana.
After Iggy spat you back out, you finally made it home ... only to realize that you missed one of the greatest baseball moments of our lifetime: Bartolo Colon, baseball spirit animal and source of all that is good, hit a home run Saturday against the Padres. A real, actual home run -- seriously, it went over the wall and everything:
Quick, you need to make up for lost time -- here, we put it on repeat for you:
It was a moment so instantly iconic, it will soon make its way to the Baseball Hall of Fame -- and helped earn Colon NL Co-Player of the Week honors. But don't despair: We might not be able to turn back time, but we're here to fill you in on all things Bartolo that you may have missed. Like, for example, the silent treatment that greeted Colon when he got back to the dugout:
Or, even more importantly, the Mets' Spanish radio team's call of the homer, which medical professionals tell us may lead to hours of involuntary grinning and/or shouts of "HASTA LA VISTA, BABY!"
MLB.com's Anthony DiComo even put together an oral history of the iconic swing, which includes Jacob deGrom claiming that he may or may not have called the shot and Bartolo himself delivering one of the quotes of the year: "Anytime I see a fastball, I swing hard, because I'm not a curveball hitter."
At 42 years young, Colon became the oldest player in Major League history to hit his first career home run. Only one other 40-something had managed the feat before: a 40-year-old Randy Johnson, with the D-backs in 2003.
Amid all that record book-smashing madness, though, Colon didn't forget about his day job -- he tossed 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball and guided the Mets to a 6-3 win.
And if you're wondering just how far the mighty blast traveled, don't worry, there's a Statcast™ for that:
Statcast projected the ball to land 365 feet away with an exit velocity of 96.8 mph. Bartolo milked his home run trot for a full 30.5 seconds, but this momentous event will carry on in our hearts forever.
