Watch Melvin Mora defy the odds and homer off the very top of the foul pole
Melvin Mora turns 46 today. The former third baseman had a solid 13-year career -- hitting 171 homers, collecting more than 1,500 hits and posting a .277/.350/.431 slash line. He appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot last year, but, despite our best efforts, didn't receive any votes.
Don't fret, though, Melvin Mora superfans (or any one of Melvin Mora's quintuplets), for Melvin accomplished a feat that may be even too magical for Cooperstown. Too physically impossible for even the best of the best baseball men. On July 18, 2008, he hit a two-run home run off the very TOP of Camden Yards' 70-foot high foul pole.
Although he didn't win a giant stuffed animal or a lifetime supply of crab cakes, he and the O's did win the game, 7-4.
"I just prayed it was a home run," Mora told The Baltimore Sun. "I didn't want to have to take another swing."
And, no, you shouldn't have needed to take another swing, Melvin. If you had retired after this at-bat, who could've blamed you? You were on top of the foul pole. You were on top of the world.