In their usual helpful way, our friends at MLB Productions have created a compendium of first home runs. Which first home runs, you might helpfully ask? Why, the first home runs hit by this year's Home Run Derby participants, of course ...
and now, my helpful annotations:
1. David Wright - 7/26/2004 (0:12)
It seems like the Expos left Montreal forever ago, doesn't it? But David Wright is only 30 years old, and he hit his first homer in Montreal! Granted, it was the Expos' last season in Montreal, but we're hardly looking at ancient history here. And I'll bet if you're a baseball fan in that neck of the woods, it still seems like yesterday.
2. Robinson Canó - 5/24/2005 (0:30)
The Yankees sold more than four million tickets that season, but if someone tells you he was in the Stadium for Cano's first home run, you have every reason to be skeptical. Even if he's got a ticket stub and everything. The attendance for that game was more than 37,000, but with the Yankees ultimately beating the Tigers 12-3, the great majority of those fans were gone when Canó led off the bottom of the eighth with his homer. This is why you stay for the last pitch, sports fans.
3. Prince Fielder - 6/25/2005 (0:45)
Quote: "Career home run No. 1 for the man who is Prince, but will soon be King."
I'm not sure what that means, but it sounded pretty good at the time I'll bet.
4. Michael Cuddyer - 7/20/2002 (1:02)
Oddly, this was also Cuddyer's last home run, so far anyway. (We kid National League Home Run Derby Captain America David Wright because we love him.)
5. Bryce Harper - 5/24/2012 (1:22)
Moon shot. Straightaway center fielder. Quote: "There's No. 1! And several more hundred, we hope."
6. Yoenis Cespedes - 3/29/2012 (1:40)
Is this the earliest first home run for any player, ever? Nah, probably not. But it's fun to think about.
Quote: "Uh-oh. He got into that one. Gone."
7. Chris Davis - 6/27/2008 (1:53)
Opposite-field blast. Maybe Rick Reilly's on to something after all ...
8. Carlos Gonzalez - 6/20/2008 (2:15)
For me, the most jarring thing in the entire video was seeing Carlos Gonzalez in the Athletics livery. It's going to take a long time before that makes any sense to me. In Billy Beane's defense, I will mention that Gonzalez finished that season with exactly four home runs in 302 at-bats. He was terrible. And then he was great. Baseball.