Inside-the-park home runs are pretty random because even the game's fastest players need something a bit wacky to happen in order to facilitate the business of running 360 feet before the ball can be ultimately secured. So yeah, they're all a bit fluky by definition, even if the player scalds a ball 425 feet into the gap as Tampa Bay Rays' Luke Raley did yesterday in San Francisco.
The line shot hit the right-center field wall and then darted across the very top of the wall in center before ultimately coming to a rest on the left-field side of the outfield. Players could take batting practice for an entire month and never replicate the circumstances which allowed this to happen and allowed Raley to cruise around the bags for an unconventional dinger.
"It looked like a rat running across the top of the fence there," Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
Few things are more exciting in sports than an inside-the-parker and they often come with the added bonus of kids accidentally learning about math by studying angles, so they are a win-win for everyone involved. Even the opposing pitcher can dismiss them and say the hitter got lucky because they usually do.
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Luke Raley's Inside-the-Parker Took An Insane Ride.
