Last night Dan Uggla did something that has never been done before in the history of Major League Baseball. He hit his 30th home run for the fourth time while playing second.
This event got absolutely no air time on ESPN's Baseball Tonight. Nor did it warrant any air time on the MLB Network, from my understanding. Oh sure, if he played for the Yankees they would have led off with the story, but not for us.
Granted, it was a crappy game and after the mentioning the Phillies won they moved on, but they were wrong to do so.
New Major League Baseball records may happen everyday, but this was a big deal and it shouldn't go unheralded. No other second baseman in the history of the sport has done it. The record does not belong to a Jeff Kent, Rogers Hornsby, Craig Biggio, Ryan Sandberg, Joe Morgan or Jackie Robinson. It is in the sole possession of Dan Uggla.
Who we could not be more proud of.
Not only did Danny set a Major League record, he is now the only Marlins hitter to hit 30+ home runs four times.
David Samson finally proved himself useful and worked a deal to get the ball back.
Marlins President David Samson chased down the fan who retrieved the ball in the teal seats in left centerfield behind the Cafe Bustelo sign. "David took care of that for me," Uggla said. "He followed it all the way and went to the guy and figured out what it was going to take. I had to just sign a ball pretty much with a little inscription on it and he was happy to give it to me."
Thank goodness I didn't retrieve the ball or Danny would not be describing the signed replacement as a little inscription. He wouldn't have enough baseball to write everything I would ask him to write on the ball: "To my bestest friends ever and the most wonderful people on the planet, GameFish and craig......"
Truthfully, I would have happily just given the ball to him.
Danny, we are proud of you!