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In St. Louis Saturday, Washington's Michael Morse hit a grand slam early in the game. It was an interesting experience. Watch it yourself:

If you want, you can skip most everything between 0:28 and 2:40, as that's just the umpires reviewing the oddest grand slam you'll ever see. Surrounding those two minutes is Morse getting tagged out on his grand slam before being forced to run the bases backwards and, finally, re-enacting the entire home run sequence, including a phantom swing from the batter's box. It's bizarre. For a more complete breakdown of the longest (by distance) home run trot you've ever seen, refer to the image below.

The play begins at point 1, when Morse hits a grand slam over the rightfield fence at Busch Stadium…

  1. Morse hits a grand slam, begins his trot around the bases.
  2. At second base, Morse notices that the ball is still in play and that all but the lead runner have stopped at the next bag. (Total distance trotted: ~180 feet)
  3. Morse races back to first base, trying to beat the tag. He does not succeed and is called out. (Total distance trotted: ~270 feet)
  4. A confused Morse starts to go back to the dugout, uncertain why he isn't at home already.
    4a. Morse returns to first base after he's told that the play will be reviewed.
  5. After standing at first for more than two minutes, Morse and the rest of the runners see the play has been ruled a home run. They start to finish out the trot before being stopped by the umpires. Morse is not allowed to finish his trot just yet. (Total distance trotted: ~405 feet)
  6. An even more thoroughly confused Morse retreats back to first base, making sure he touches each base in the process. Maybe the umpires just wanted to make sure he touched second since they were all in the dugout when he started the trot? (Total distance trotted: ~540 feet)
  7. Nope. Everyone is confused now and, even though Morse has been standing on first for about three minutes now, we need to be sure he touched all the bases properly. Morse is sent back to the batter's box. (Total distance trotted: ~630 feet)
  8. "I have to run out the full home run trot now? Well, I guess I better hit another home run." Morse stands in the batter's box, mimes a home run swing, and starts around the bases. His final "trot" takes 23.44 seconds. It is made even better by Washington's Bob Carpenter recreating his home run call for the phantom home run. (Total distance trotted: ~990 feet)

How bizarre is that! Everytime I watch that clip—of Morse running around the bases backwards and then miming a home run swing—it gets better and better. This may be my favorite home run trot of all time. Nice work, everyone!

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drzevia
10/01
haha what about the other trots though
LlarryA
10/01
The umpires made him go all the way back to the batters' box because they wanted to make sure you would get a valid Trot Time.
aaronbailey52
10/01
What's up with the helmet chewing?