Woody Bellinger hit home runs 20 and 21 last night at Dodger Stadium, which sets a new Major League record.
Bellinger is the fastest ever to 21 home runs to start an MLB career. His first homer was his 20th in 51 career games, tying Wally Berger in 1930 and Gary Sanchez in 2016. His second homer puts him all alone.
I was on Bellinger before he was the latest and greatest thing. Before sports seemingly out-did themselves a year later. First off, he’s my father’s Dodger. The reasoning is simple: he looks like Woody from Toy Story so we started calling him ‘Woody’ Bellinger (not sure my dad could tell you his name is Cody if you offered him $1M, but he knows Bellinger’s first name only as ‘Woody’), and seemingly every time we watched the Dodgers together; which is a lot, Bellinger fucking homered. A lot of the time he homered twice (he’s already done that five times this season and it’s still in June).
A lot of people in a lot places have seen Bellinger homer a lot of times. Not just me or my dad. I actually saw him hit one live off the foul pole in Cleveland. I was there for history, or part of it.
So Cody Bellinger is special; do I believe he’s this special? No I do not. Do I believe Aaron Judge ends up the better hitter and slugger? I do. Do I think Corey Seager is still the Dodgers franchise? I absolutely do. Do I think Bellinger ends up with 55 and 60 homer seasons as he ages or another 21 home run stretch in 51 games? Never again.
But he’s got a big powerful swooping swing that he’s perfected – and a home run trot that no one can beat to go with it. He’s a lot of fun. He’s what make the Dodgers more compelling. They’re a better team since he’s been called up. And I’m enjoying the crest of this wave as a baseball fan.
But Woody Bellinger will always be my dad’s Dodger.
from Diamond Hoggers http://ift.tt/2tLha7Q
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