When is a splash hit not a splash hit? When it lands in a kayak. Which, to be fair, is a situation so improbable no one’s thought of a name for it. But they need to think of one now.
Just in case you don’t know, a 'splash hit' is when, during a baseball game at San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park, a player hits a home run that lands in McCovey Cove, which runs just next to the stadium.
On game days, fans take to the water of McCovey Cove in boats, canoes and kayaks, often with fishing nets, in the hope of collecting a home run ball. But this weekend, one pair of kayakers (and their dog) didn’t need a fishing net when the Giants’ Patrick Bailey hit a home run into the Cove, and the ball landed right in the middle of their kayak.
“I’ve watched a LOT of #SFGiants games,” said @Mike__McKenna on X, “and I can assure you I’ve never seen that happen before.”
Bailey’s splash hit landed directly into a kayak 🤯pic.twitter.com/ZptS3CURbIApril 20, 2024
Splash hits are tallied on an electronic counter on the right field wall. Bailey’s home run marks the 103rd splash hit by a Giants player and the 165th in total, though this is possibly the first splash hit that did not touch the water. Thankfully it didn’t land on the dog (which, sadly, doesn’t appear to be a dachshund, so they can’t rename the feat a 'dachshit').
Of course, social media was quick to debate whether a splash hit that doesn’t actually make a splash is a splash hit at all, but the kayakers look happy with the situation either way.
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