Atlanta Braves: So I Missed Out on $2500
Sep 11, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Hall of fame pitcher Don Sutton and Braves broadcaster (left) talks with Miami Marlins manager Mike Redmond (right) prior to their game at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Now I’m definitely an advocate for the Braves getting some power bats.
Atlanta Braves radio has this contest every game… it’s the Georgia Lottery Homerun Jackpot Inning. Today it was the 6th inning… and the jackpot was something in excess of $2000. Somebody wins the money if a Brave puts ball into the seats during that inning…er, in the seats in fair territory, that is.
I couldn’t quite hear it, but today’s haul may have been $2550, which at least matches the math, for the number escalates by $150 every game that the prize goes unclaimed.
As you can imagine, this prize hasn’t been awarded very often this season.
That didn’t happen today, either. But today, yours truly was the contestant.
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Actually, I was blissfully unaware of my own brush with stardom until my radio host, Thom Abraham, called me to bust on me for failing to come through with a homer for the Braves in the 6th inning… as if I had anything to do about it.
It was one of those kind of phone calls in which the person on the other end assumes that you’re completely aware of the news he’s discussing with you… while you’re clueless and sound like a ditz.
But as he was listening to the game live via WUMP/730AM in Huntsville (shameless plug), I was relegated to a laggy computer-streamed XM Radio connection (major league baseball, in their infinite wisdom, forbids streamed broadcasts from terrestrial radio broadcasters, but XM’s deal allows this).
How laggy was it? Once I ended my call with Thom, I turned the audio back up, and then heard a Hall of Famer – Don Sutton – call my name on the radio. Awesome! But then I realize I’m about half an inning behind.
Then I heard the inning’s results:
- Jace Peterson: groundout to second
- Cameron Maybin: groundout to second
- Nick Markakis: groundout to second
Yeah, missed it by “that much”.
Guess the orthodontia work for my youngest daughter will have to wait. Or maybe my son’s tuition (though I guess his massive student loans will work, there). *Sigh*
Never Tell Me The Odds
At least I had a chance. All three of those players have actually struck home runs this season.
Well, 12 of them. Combined. That’s counting Markakis getting on the board 2 days ago.
So to that point, the Braves had played approximately 837 innings this season. So that math suggests that for any random inning this season, there’s a 1.4% chance of any of those three guys hitting a homer. For them to hit another one during that particular inning? Well, technically, it’s still 1.4%, but it feels like a lot longer odds.
So suddenly I’m thinking that the Braves really need to stock up on third basemen named Frazier, or Left Fielders named Upton (oh, we did that already), or Catchers named McCann or Gattis (them too?? really?!). Guess we’ll have to settle for a first baseman named Freeman in another week or so.
Oh well. So there’s my fleeting connection to a Hall-of-Fame pitcher… a HOF-er both in Cooperstown and in Atlanta, in case you missed that part.
And also about as close as I’ll be to that $2550. But I don’t even think that qualifies as “Warning-Track-Power-close”.