I guess we've found the next Jason Tyner.

Campana only dreams of having Tyner's power.

Yonder Alonso looked drunk on the play. He didn't even come close to fielding the bounce of the wall behind the Cubs' bullpen, and honestly looked surprised to see a wall there as he ran into it. Then he stumbled while turning around to chase after it, and sort of ambled over to it. By that time that ball had rolled to the wall, and Alonso approached it as if he was afraid it was going to bite him. There was no doubt Campana would get all the way around, and as the article notes, there was never a chance for a play at the plate, much less any chance of actually throwing Campana out. It was one of the worst outfield plays I've ever seen, and the Cubs have had to put up with Soriano's meandering concentration out there for years now.

The whole sequence was very amusing on multiple levels, not the least of which is that Campana never even homered in the minors and seems unlikely to pop one out of the park anytime soon. I don't think I've seen him hit a fly ball that could even charitably be described as "deep."

It was one of the worst outfield plays I've ever seen, and the Cubs have had to put up with Soriano's meandering concentration out there for years now.

I was at the game, but the left-field corner was the one part of the field that we couldn't see from our seats (upper deck down the 3B line). So, I didn't see what the hell happened with Alonso down there, but damn Campana is fast.

Campy is just fun to watch. May not be a MLB player, but damn fun to watch.

Video

I get about 11 seconds from contact to crossing the plate. I recall Tony Womack doing that against the Cubs too in about 11 seconds. Not bad for 120 yards without blocks.

Alonso's play didn't look THAT bad to me. Yeah, he wasn't expecting the bullpen wall where it was -- I did the same thing a few times the first time I played on a squash court. It was the first time he'd played in Wrigley and he's hardly the first guy to make that mistake.

Walt - not scientific at all, but just using the time stamp on the MLB site Campana strikes the ball at 2 seconds into the clip and scores at about 16 seconds. So, it's closer to 14 seconds methinks. Still quick, but not 11 seconds fast.

Walt - not scientific at all,

Yes, but I used the scientifically robust "1-1000, 2-1000" method so clearly the time stamp is wrong.

Touché, Walt. I'll defer to you....

After tonight the Cubs will be closer to the Pirates than the Pirates are to first place.

I recall Tony Womack doing that against the Cubs too in about 11 seconds.

Ah--was that the Memorial Day 1997 game when Womack and Sosa hit IPHRs in the same inning (which I believe is the only time players on both teams have hit inside the parkers in the same inning in MLB history)? Because I was at that game, and I recall being amazed at how quickly and easily Womack scored. He just split the RCF gap and kept running.

After tonight the Cubs will be closer to the Pirates than the Pirates are to first place.

Fourth place or bust. Great--as if the Cub brass needs any more fuel for its denialism about the state of the franchise.

Official Sportscenter timer was 14.1, sorry Walt.

Campana is a perfect example of the "sabermetrics isn't always fun" school of player analysis. Unless he can suddenly start drawing walks he's not really a major league caliber player except almost strictly as a runner a defensive replacement. His bat doesn't really get it done in AAA much less the majors.

But I hate saying that because it's fun having guys like this around. Don't know why guys like this don't always take the Cangelosi approach and take an excessive amount of pitches.

Alonso's play didn't look THAT bad to me. Yeah, he wasn't expecting the bullpen wall where it was -- I did the same thing a few times the first time I played on a squash court. It was the first time he'd played in Wrigley and he's hardly the first guy to make that mistake.

Don't get me wrong - I sympathize with him to some degree. He's not an outfielder by trade, and like you say, it's an unfamiliar environment. But still, he couldn't have done anything more wrong on that play. It's not just Campana that would have scored - the ball was just getting back to the infield as Campana crossed the plate. Anyone with reasonable speed (e.g., Castro, maybe Barney) would have scored easily, and even someone of average speed would have at least had a shot.

OK by the precious time stamp, it seems to take Alonso about 5-6 seconds to go from "did I just run into a wall" to picking up the ball. So the verb "lumber" and the phrase "what the hell is that green stuff on the wall" come to mind.

I recall a time playing softball and I was at my usual spot playing first. And this LHB is up and he rips a nasty one-hopper right at me which I miss, it ricochets off my kneecap and bounces about 15 feet away. Our SS was yelling at me to go get the ball but I simply stood there for a few second contemplating (1) is my knee still there; (2) yes and it seems I can move it; (3) and it doesn't even hurt; (4) wow!

Still I think I only let him get to second but then he was probably 1/3 the speed of Campana. Anyway, I can imagine Alonso having a similar "I just ran into a brick wall, shouldn't this hurt or something" moment.

I felt the same way when i bicycled into the back of a stopped car and broke the taillight with my knee. "I'm not hurt? I broke that car."

Now the Cubs just need to trade for Eris Peguero, fuse him with Campana, and they'd have Bert Campaneris.

nevermind

Saw Deion Sanders hit an inside-the-park job for the Columbus Clippers once. I'm sure no video exists, so I'm going to say it was 10.2 seconds. Sanders broke the world 100-yard dash record on his way between 3rd and home.

I saw Sanders hit a non-IPHR, but the functional equivalent--4-base error by Doug Dascenzo, who dropped Sanders' fly ball on the warning track in left center. (It was the '92 game when Blauser hit 3 homers.) I maintain that's the fastest I've ever seen anyone run on a baseball field.

I think this is the first time I've seen Deion Sanders come up in a baseball thread here. It's probably happened before, but not in my memory, and that's strange given how many random players less memorable than Sanders get mentioned repeatedly.

I listened to this game on the radio driving to Milwaukee yesterday. Pretty much a best-case scenario for a game to listen to on a long drive, considering the season...

I saw Sanders hit a non-IPHR, but the functional equivalent--4-base error by Doug Dascenzo, who dropped Sanders' fly ball on the warning track in left center. (It was the '92 game when Blauser hit 3 homers.) I maintain that's the fastest I've ever seen anyone run on a baseball field.

I remember this very well -- watching it on TV of course. Jeff "Boom Boom" Blauser.

Huge game for the Braves. They beat the Cubs in 10, to sweep the four game series. That was their fifth win in what ended up being a 13-game winning streak. They went from five back to two games ahead in that streak, pretty much running the table the rest of the season.

I think this is the first time I've seen Deion Sanders come up in a baseball thread here.

Just popped up in a different one too.

You know, it should be noted that unlike Campana, Deion Sanders was a pretty good major league baseball player. He got called up to the majors way before he was ready, but these are his stats from age 24-27: 280/335/382 with good baserunning and good CF defense. He put up 5.4 WAR in 370 games - that's a little over a rate of 2 WAR per 150 games, a little better than average.

Deion's defensive numbers never matched up to his speed on the bases, and his SB/CS rate never reached the level in should have. He never entirely learned to play baseball (see likewise his BB rate.) If Deion had ever committed to baseball, I think he would have been an All-Star.

@25: maybe so, but I suspect that same arrogance that let him believe (accurately) that he could succeed contemporaneously at two major sports might have interfered with his ability to learn, to take instruction. Evidence? Slender, but I do think a guy who is as fast as anyone on the diamond who can't crack 75% may well have a learning problem. It's certainly not a speed problem or a confidence problem.