Welcome to the 400 Club

[EchoesIE]

Honolulu, HA (Sunday Edition) -- With a single swing of the bat, 1B David Smurf put himself in the record books, put himself in a thousand news articles, and more than likely placed himself in the Monty Brewster Baseball Association Hall of Fame. The 356 foot shot to left field wasn't something that towered out of the park, it wasn't something that shook the world (though it did give Hawaii some much needed insurance runs), and wasn't something that anyone outside of Smurf expected. With a full-count in the bottom of the 7th, Hawaii was up 1-0. when C Robin Larker singled to right field, Smurf strode to the plate. The few hundred Hawaii fans were all on their feet, some wearing blue shirts or blue hats, one young fan even had a sign that read: "Papa Smurf!"

After 2 called strikes and 3 balls that were all dancing around the plate, Smurf turned on a ball low and inside. The ball went flying, and Smurf hurried out of the box, it was nothing more than a line drive to left field. When Smurf turned around 1st Base, he looked up and saw that the players weren't hurredly throwing the the ball to 2nd, instead, they were all staring at him, most clapping. Smurf enjoyed his trot around the bases, including a hearty high-five and slap on the back by the Tropics 3rd base coach.
The team met him at the plate, all smiles and fist-bumps. Smurf, who had been signed in the offseason and had homered in 5 straight games, had become a bit of a mysterious figure in the dugout...with young players giving him space and veteran players paying respects to the slugger.

Smurf became an instant celebrity in Honolulu, with every kiosk that sold Tropics gear, started selling blue hats with a gold figure of a smurf in the likeness of David Smurf on it. People at Hawaii's first 2 home games came dressed up as the Blue Cartoon Characters and in every game played this short season, there has been one sign involving blue, cartoons and David Smurf's name. Smurf signed a 2-year, $18,780,000 dollar deal after the Tropics lost out on the Brock Lee sweepstakes. Now, General Manager Josh Cornel seems like a genious, as Smurf has not only brought a pop to the Tropics batting order, but he has also brought in some wishy-washy fans who would normally not be interested in a Hawaii Tropics baseball game.

Smurf started his career in Louisville and spent his first 10 years playing ball for the Sluggers. Lee hit all his homeruns (355 of them) in a Slugger uniform, before being let go by the organization. Smurf has 5523 AB's in his career, which equals a homerun every 13.8 At-Bats, roughly one homerun every 3 games. Smurf joins only 15 other players in MBBA history with 400 homeruns, including Hall of Famers Fred Mahaffrey, Jeffrey Spratt, and Sawyer Silk -- for which an MBBA award is named after. Smurf has also collected 1216 RBI and 961 runs.

With a few years left under his belt, the sky is the limit for David Smurf. With so much fan interaction, and player adoration, David Smurf is in a league of his own and an exclusive club. We congratulate David Smurf on his great achievement and wish him only the best.

[LambeauLeap]

Awesome article. He hit 395 with LOU right?