The Hop Must Stop

A week or so ago I watched as Sammy Sosa sent #598 into the seats and then proceeded with his post-watch-HR-fly-over-wall hop. He then, of course rounded the bases. Sammy's little hop is quite possibly the worst HR strut in the history of the game. Not to mention all those pesky steroids and now HGH he's Slammin' Sammy all over again. Just once I'd love to see a pitcher clothesline Sammy mid-hop, put an elbow to his throat and then drag him off of the diamond. Aware that he has not been forgiven, that he is and forever will be a one dimensional player who needed steroids (allegedly) to nail down that dimension in the first place. Anyhow, Sammy's feminine hop got me thinking.

Who, in the game today, has the best HR strut? I've managed to narrow it down to my top five. Though some bias has been inserted I tried to be reasonable. I've included only those who came to mind when the idea first surfaced. No one else. No research what-so-ever. So here ya go... my top five..

5) Magglio Ordonez
This one I obviously have to explain -- I'll never forget where I was when Ordonez sent the Tigers to the World Series with one swing of the bat last October. Nor will I ever forget what it felt like after watching the Tigers play sub .500 ball for my entire life. While Ordonez doesn't have the greatest of struts and he won't come to many of your minds when asked: Who's strut is the best? His nonchalant post HR approach puts him in my top 5. And that October jack definitely helped. Embedding was disabled on the only good video I could find. So click the link to watch Maggs tiptoe towards first as the ball flies over the fence. It's almost as if this wasn't the biggest swing of his career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLVdWgDjMjM


4) Albert Pujols



3) David Ortiz
The Ortiz slamming starts at about the 0:50 second mark.



2) Barry Bonds
Undeniable... refer to the first :45 of the above video for a few Bonds shots.

1) Ken Griffey Jr.
The Junior strut is undeniably the greatest HR strut in all of the land. Without a shadow of a doubt Junior has cornered this market. Now if only he hadn't been injured to damn much.

The below video kicks off with the best capture of Griffey's strut I've seen. Animation or not. The video also features many other struts. Including the dreaded hop.



So, Who's got the best strut for your money? If it Junior? Or is it someone I haven't even mentioned here?