- Thread starter
- #1
BigDDude
I live again
- 9,795
- 1
- 38
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2013
- Location
- Albany, Or
- Hoopla Cash
- $ 1,000.00
- Fav. Team #1
- Fav. Team #2
- Fav. Team #3
Some 30 years later, Reggie Jackson's words still ring in Duane Kuiper's ears.
"If I only had one home run, I'd [freaking] quit," Jackson shouted, loud enough for players, coaches and fans in the ballpark to hear as Kuiper took batting practice.
The man who finished his career with 563 home runs didn't sugarcoat how he felt about the pesky second baseman's one career trot around the diamond.
"That's kind of what I had to live with," Kuiper said.
Such is life for those in the exclusive one-homer club. It's a more distinguished entity than those filled with members who boast two or three or five career taters, and it's a more honorable group than those who never circled the bases.
"There are times where I certainly wish I would've hit more than one," Kuiper said, "but what's the perfect number after one? Twenty? Would I have rather hit 10 or 20 instead of one?
"At a certain stage in your life, after it's all said and done, you get mentioned more for hitting one than you did for hitting five."
Kuiper certainly cherishes the memory of his lone home run. He can recall every detail about the night of Aug. 29, 1977. Kuiper's Indians were playing the White Sox on a national telecast of Monday Night Baseball, with Al Michaels providing the call.
Cleveland native Steve Stone toed the rubber for Chicago. His parents had season tickets at Cleveland Stadium, and that night, they occupied their seats along the third-base line near the home dugout and on-deck circle.
With one out in the bottom of the first, Kuiper spun on a pitch and lifted it over the right-field wall. When Kuiper noticed that White Sox right fielder Wayne Nordhagen had his back turned to him as he chased after the fly ball, he knew he had a chance at a homer.
"I thought, 'You know what? This maybe has a chance to get out of the park.' And it did," Kuiper said. "And then I went around the bases, and because I didn't do it very often, it happened very fast. If I could do something different, I would have definitely slowed it down a little bit."
Michaels is widely recognized for his line, "Do you believe in miracles?" Which he bellowed during the 1980 Olympics. Kuiper, now a broadcaster with the San Francisco Giants, said he teases Michaels that he actually first uttered the phrase when Kuiper's home run ball hit the seats.
Kuiper admits, however, that it wasn't always easy seeing his home run total in print. He surely didn't need Jackson reminding him about it.
"If we had walk-up songs back then," Kuiper said, "I think mine would've been 'One Is The Loneliest Number.'"
"If I only had one home run, I'd [freaking] quit," Jackson shouted, loud enough for players, coaches and fans in the ballpark to hear as Kuiper took batting practice.
The man who finished his career with 563 home runs didn't sugarcoat how he felt about the pesky second baseman's one career trot around the diamond.
"That's kind of what I had to live with," Kuiper said.
Such is life for those in the exclusive one-homer club. It's a more distinguished entity than those filled with members who boast two or three or five career taters, and it's a more honorable group than those who never circled the bases.
"There are times where I certainly wish I would've hit more than one," Kuiper said, "but what's the perfect number after one? Twenty? Would I have rather hit 10 or 20 instead of one?
"At a certain stage in your life, after it's all said and done, you get mentioned more for hitting one than you did for hitting five."
Kuiper certainly cherishes the memory of his lone home run. He can recall every detail about the night of Aug. 29, 1977. Kuiper's Indians were playing the White Sox on a national telecast of Monday Night Baseball, with Al Michaels providing the call.
Cleveland native Steve Stone toed the rubber for Chicago. His parents had season tickets at Cleveland Stadium, and that night, they occupied their seats along the third-base line near the home dugout and on-deck circle.
With one out in the bottom of the first, Kuiper spun on a pitch and lifted it over the right-field wall. When Kuiper noticed that White Sox right fielder Wayne Nordhagen had his back turned to him as he chased after the fly ball, he knew he had a chance at a homer.
"I thought, 'You know what? This maybe has a chance to get out of the park.' And it did," Kuiper said. "And then I went around the bases, and because I didn't do it very often, it happened very fast. If I could do something different, I would have definitely slowed it down a little bit."
Michaels is widely recognized for his line, "Do you believe in miracles?" Which he bellowed during the 1980 Olympics. Kuiper, now a broadcaster with the San Francisco Giants, said he teases Michaels that he actually first uttered the phrase when Kuiper's home run ball hit the seats.
Kuiper admits, however, that it wasn't always easy seeing his home run total in print. He surely didn't need Jackson reminding him about it.
"If we had walk-up songs back then," Kuiper said, "I think mine would've been 'One Is The Loneliest Number.'"
