In the second inning of Wednesday's contest between the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals, a bat checking incident occurred with Elly De La Cruz being forced to remove the knob of his bat by the umpires.
It led to an extensive delay, and gave shades of an incident 40 years ago this month with Royals Hall of Famer George Brett. The Reds rookie kept his cool unlike the previous, and was allowed to return to the at bat.
In 1983, George Brett had a legendary meltdown after a home run at Yankee Stadium was called out due to a bat checking incident with pine tar. He went wild on the umpires, and was ejected from the contest after charging them.
The bat checking incident wasn't going to stop De La Cruz like it did to Brett, and he made sure of that when he nuked a 450 foot shot into the upper deck of Nationals Park later in the fifth inning.
The Reds went on to smoke the Nationals by a score of 9-2, thanks in part to the work of De La Cruz. He has been the spark plug for this team, and has helped generate one of the fastest turn arounds for a struggling franchise.
The Reds now sit in first place in the NL Central, a position no one expected them to be in as the All-Star break arrives. They are up to +180 odds to win the division in a fight with the Milwaukee Brewers, a far cry from the +6600 they began the season with.
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