Mr. Cub impressed by Home Run Derby champ Howard
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mr. Cub stopped in his tracks when he saw the new Home Run Derby champ. “Who taught you how to play?” Hall of Famer Ernie Banks told Phillies slugger Ryan Howard during warmups before Tuesday night’s All-Star game.
Banks marveled at Howard’s power show at the derby on Monday, in which he topped another young star, Mets third baseman David Wright.
“David Wright – good hands. Miguel Cabrera – good hands,” Banks later said from a PNC Park suite as he watched National League take batting practice. “But the left-handed hitters seem to be much better balanced, a little bit quicker in the hands.”
Quite a compliment from Banks, a pretty good right-handed hitter himself. An 11-time All-Star, Banks hit 512 home runs and won two Most Valuable Player awards in his 19-year career with the Cubs.
“For me to meet a legend like that in this stage of my career is a blessing,” said Howard, bat dragging along the ground after he took his pregame swings. “I can only be flashes of what he use to be like.”
Banks says today’s hitters are better in at least one respect.
“What I see, the technique of hitters today, they have shorter quicker swings. They use their bodies,” Banks said, getting up from his chair to take a mock cut. It was at that point that Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols came up for batting practice.
“Just look at this. This kid here, Pujols. They get their body into it. The technique is better now,” Banks said. “They are real good.”
WORSHIPPING OZ: As a child, Bronson Arroyo often had Ozzie Smith on his mind.
“I used to shave my head and carve his name in the back of my head when I was a kid,” said the Reds’ Arroyo. “I would go in the backyard and do back-flips.”
Smith, a Hall of Famer, was on the field during pregame warmups. Arroyo said that was the one guy he wanted to meet in Pittsburgh.
Arroyo grew up in Florida, but idolized Smith after watching the St. Louis shortstop on TV make sparkling defensive plays. Arroyo even had an Ozzie Smith glove.
“The only guys I ever collected baseball cards was of him,” Arroyo said. “I had Ozzie stuff all over my room.”
Arroyo also played shortstop and had aspirations to be drafted as one, but stuck to pitching. “I wasn’t quite as equipped to be successful,” he said.
The right-hander has had a solid first half, going 9-6 with 3.12 ERA.
As for shortstop, no one can beat the Wizard of Oz.
“I don’t think anybody on the planet is as good as Ozzie,” Arroyo said.
POWER DROUGHT: Miguel Tejada didn’t offer any excuses.
The Orioles shortstop offered a simple explanation for his puny, three-blast performance in the Home Run Derby on Monday. He was eliminated in the first round.
“I just lost it, just like everybody else,” he said. “I just lost it.”
Probably won’t affect his status as one of the top hitters in the game, though. Tejada is hitting .315 with 17 homers and 62 RBIs.
He’s pretty confident, too. When asked who was the best right-handed hitter in the game, Tejada replied, “Me!”