Wonderboy with 4 HRs

[revo]

5-for-5, 4 HRs, 8 RBIs tonight vs. Baltimore.

16th player in MLB history to accomplish the feat, first since Carlos Delgado in 2003.

[Moonlight J]

ridiculous..his SLG% would rank him 39th in the league in OPS

[Judge Jude]

classic example of a genius in anything - the mundane life is the hard part.

I wish him nothing but the best.

[wannabegriffey]

I'm sure he'll go for a beer after the game to celebrate

[revo]

he now has 2 more HRs than the San Diego Padres.

[Jimmy Colorado]

I never knew how rare a feat four dingers in a game was. That was always on my "fantasy to-do" list: I've had a couple no-hitters (Verlander and Buehrle), a perfect game (Buehrle), a few cycles here and there (Kinsler was the most recent, iirc), but never a 4-HR game. Now I know why I never had one before!

[Bodhizefa]

I've gotten my first career fantasy no-hitter (Weaver) and first fantasy 4-homerun game within a very very succinct time span. These past few weeks have been nuts!

[chancellor]

And the last one was no cheapy - almost to dead center field.

Classy move by the O's fans to give him pretty much a standing ovation after the 4th one, too.

[Sour Masher]

The guy is remarkable to watch at the plate. I know it is better to celabrate his road back to the majors and his glorious now, but how great he is now does make one wonder what could have been for Hamilton in terms of alltime greatness if he'd had a normal path to the majors. He is the perfect example, though, of the sort of HOF player I've referenced before--someone who does not compile the necessary counting stats for lack of longevity, but someone clearly one of the very best in the game for 5+ years. I'm not saying Hamilton is a HOFer now or will be any time soon, but he has a shot, if his body holds up as he ages into his late 30s. Although, unlike many whose career was cut short by injury, his career was cut short on the front end by his own doing, which may matter to voters.

[wannabegriffey]

The guy is remarkable to watch at the plate. I know it is better to celabrate his road back to the majors and his glorious now, but how great he is now does make one wonder what could have been for Hamilton in terms of alltime greatness if he'd had a normal path to the majors. He is the perfect example, though, of the sort of HOF player I've referenced before--someone who does not compile the necessary counting stats for lack of longevity, but someone clearly one of the very best in the game for 5+ years. I'm not saying Hamilton is a HOFer now or will be any time soon, but he has a shot, if his body holds up as he ages into his late 30s. Although, unlike many whose career was cut short by injury, his career was cut short on the front end by his own doing, which may matter to voters.

Hamilton has exactly one full season out of the previous 5...his only 5 years in the bigs...and that full season was 2008.

Any team that breaks the bank on this guy is careless and reckless with their payroll. If I was running a team, I would have no shot to get him because I wouldn't go past 3 guaranteed and those 3 years would total in the ballpark of $50.

Games played, highest to lowest in hamilton's mlb career:

156
133
121
90
89

People, just say 'no' to drugs...

[griswold]

Here, I thought this thread was about Bryce Harper....oops....sorry...

[cavebird]

Hamilton has exactly one full season out of the previous 5...his only 5 years in the bigs...and that full season was 2008.

Any team that breaks the bank on this guy is careless and reckless with their payroll. If I was running a team, I would have no shot to get him because I wouldn't go past 3 guaranteed and those 3 years would total in the ballpark of $50.

Games played, highest to lowest in hamilton's mlb career:

156
133
121
90
89

People, just say 'no' to drugs...

Two of those seasons didn't have to do with drugs, just outfield walls. Of course, that full speed, 100% on every play mentality probably led to both the addiction and the outfield walls. I think he is going to be one of the toughest free agents/almost free agents for any team to value properly. Unquestionable talent, completely unpredictable results.

[gcstomp]

I love baseball. The drama, the back stories, the darkness is there, but sometimes we witness the heights of a fused together fragile, brilliant ice sculpture of a creature in Hamilton blinding us all. Hamilton is having a hell of a run, and we know he can break down, hobble his way to play 130 games for the season, and still be great enough to win the mvp, which is what it feels like he is doing right now.

The contract talks are going to be like nailing jello to a wall. He is the best player out there when he is healthy, but he is rarely healthy. What price do you pay for greatness? How do you value trying a buy a unicorn for the freakin horse races? Say you knew the unicorn was faster than the other critters, they may all have 4 legs but the unicorn is just a different level. He will pack the house, fill the highlight reels, sell the jerseys, and win the races when he shows up. But he is likely to be recharging in his lair or just cannot be found some of the time. I think he will still go for a huge amount of dough.

Contract prediction, 5 yr, 100 million, people will be aghast, horrified, scan the crowd & marvel at the puckered up lemon faces.

[joncarlos]

I love baseball. The drama, the back stories, the darkness is there, but sometimes we witness the heights of a fused together fragile, brilliant ice sculpture of a creature in Hamilton blinding us all. Hamilton is having a hell of a run, and we know he can break down, hobble his way to play 130 games for the season, and still be great enough to win the mvp, which is what it feels like he is doing right now.

The contract talks are going to be like nailing jello to a wall. He is the best player out there when he is healthy, but he is rarely healthy. What price do you pay for greatness? How do you value trying a buy a unicorn for the freakin horse races? Say you knew the unicorn was faster than the other critters, they may all have 4 legs but the unicorn is just a different level. He will pack the house, fill the highlight reels, sell the jerseys, and win the races when he shows up. But he is likely to be recharging in his lair or just cannot be found some of the time. I think he will still go for a huge amount of dough.

Contract prediction, 5 yr, 100 million, people will be aghast, horrified, scan the crowd & marvel at the puckered up lemon faces.

At 5mil per win, that would be roughly 20 WAR over 5 years needed to earn the contract. Hamilton would definitely put up something like 8, 5, 3, 2, 2, wouldn't he?

[Ryno84MVP]

In a move that might be worse than the trade of Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio in 1964, after selecting Josh Hamilton in the 2006 Rule 5 Draft, the Cubs immediately traded him to the Reds for $100,000 ($50,000 for his rights, and $50,000 to cover the cost of the Rule 5 selection).