The Cincinnati Reds' Hall of Fame is celebrating the long ball this season. "A Home Run History of the Reds" exhibit opens later this month. Hall of Fame Executive Director Rick Walls says the homer is a signature part of the game.
"I'm all about hit and runs, and doubles and triples, and defense and everything else, but the home run has a really interesting evolution throughout baseball history," Walls says. "From dead ball era to live ball era, to steroid era to a lot of different times in pitching differences. We are going to analyze the history of that home run."
Walls says the multi-media exhibit will compare and contrast the different eras.
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"Todd Frazier's Home Run Derby blast in the All Star Game Home Run Derby; think about Michael Lorenzen's home run when he became only the second player in history to win the game as a pitcher, hit a home run, and play in the field. And the only other guy was Babe Ruth," he says. "Think about Adam Dunn's 500-and-something-foot home run that flew out of the stadium and landed on the driftwood by the water."
Walls says the exhibit is a celebration and a study of the long ball in the Reds' distant and recent past. "When you think of Elly de la Cruz and some of the blasts he had last year, we're going to show that through different metrics, using stats, using video elements, to show his home runs, the trajectory, the exit velocity, and compare that to some of the other great home run hitters of the past."
Walls says the display will also feature game bats from 49 of the top 50 home run hitters for the Reds. He says they're still searching for one from Long John Reilly, who played in the 1880s. The exhibit opens March 22.
