The 100th career “splash” home run was hit at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball.
San Francisco’s Lamont Wade Jr. hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning of today’s 0-0 home game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, USA, that landed in the ocean behind the right field wall.
A home run that falls into McCovey Bay, which is adjacent to Oracle Park, is called a splash home run.
It means that the home run splashes and plunges into the water.
On a home game day in San Francisco, it’s not uncommon to see fans in canoes or sailboats in the water beyond the right field fence waiting for a home run to land.
However, depending on which team player hit it, it has a different name.
The San Francisco Giants feature on their homepage the pitcher who hit the home run and the author of the splash home run that has become a team icon.
If it’s hit by a San Francisco player, it’s labeled a splash home run; if it’s hit by an opposing player, it’s simply labeled a “McCovey-esque home run.
Wade Jr.’s home run was the 100th splash home run hit by a San Francisco player at the ballpark, which opened in 2000.
The ballpark was known as Pacific Bell Park (2000-2003), SBC Park (2004-2005), AT&T Park (2006-2018), and has been called Oracle Park since 2019.
Oracle Park is known for favoring left-handed hitters, as it was built for Barry Bonds, the “Home Run King” of San Francisco.
It’s a left-right asymmetrical ballpark, especially because the fence running from right-center field to the right-field foul pole is designed to be a straight line rather than a semicircle, resulting in a shorter distance from home.
A pulling left-handed hitter is more likely to hit a splash home run.
Bonds has 35 career splash homers in McCovey Bay, including a pair of 1-9 splash homers.
Brandon Belt, a longtime San Francisco player who was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays this year, joins Bonds in double-digit splash home runs with 10.먹튀검증
There have been 55 “home runs in McCovey Bay” hit by non-San Francisco players through the previous day.
Shin-Soo Choo (now SSG Landers) hit one on August 3, 2020, when he was playing for the Texas Rangers, and one on May 1, 2004, when Choi Hee-seop was with the Miami Marlins.
