|
|
| |
| ||
 | |||
| |||
 And it's ... incomplete Elway doesn't go deep, but he has fun trying
Posted: Tuesday July 07, 1998 04:37 PM
By Joseph Sanchez Mighty Elway didn't exactly strike out Monday. But in a home-run contest, failing to knock one out of the park is a rough enough equivalent, especially when 52,000 adoring fans at Coors Field are watching. Maybe John Elway, who quarterbacked the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl championship last January, isn't quite "The Natural'' he's believed to be. He didn't win that celebrity golf tournament out at Inverness Hotel & Golf Club over the weekend, either. Scoring just 410 points, Elway's team finished fourth in a field in four in the MCI All-Star Hitting Challenge the preceded the Home Run Derby. That was dead-bat last, noted Elway. But it wasn't the most disappointing performance of his long and varied athletic career. "I think it's fourth . . . after those first three Super Bowls.'' But it also was no worse than he expected. "Actually, you know what? I wasn't expecting to get one out,'' Elway said. "I was just glad I got a couple out in batting practice. That made me feel good. "I think I got a little anxious. I probably should have laid off some of those inside pitches I was swinging at. But it was fun. It's been a long time since I hit a baseball.'' The days of golf in the North American Digicom Celebrity Classic at Inverness didn't ruin his swing. But it did prevent him from getting to a batting cage as planned. "I didn't have time,'' he said. "I had plans of going that, but I just never got over there.'' Winning the contest was the Purple Team led by former Kansas City Royals star George Brett (two homers) and Arizona rookie first baseman Travis Lee (four homers). Second was the White team led by Magglio Ordonez (four homers) of the White Sox and Andre Dawson with 500 points. And third was the Green team led by Oakland's Ben Grieve (five homers) and Dave Kingman (three). Fourth was the Elway team led by Rockies rookie Todd Helton with three homers. Country singer Tim McGraw, the son of Tug McGraw, was the only non-baseball player to homer, though both Kevin Costner and Jonathan "The Single Guy'' Silverman probably hit the ball better than Elway.
But Brett said his team was just lucky it didn't have to go against Elway 20 years ago. "You know, I got to see John play at one of our camps when he was in high school,'' Brett said. "John hadn't decided on whether to play baseball or go to college and play football, and they put him in my hitting group, and they said, 'Talk this guy into playing baseball.' "Fortunately, I didn't do a very good job or he'd probably have gotten my job. He had like six home runs in that one session, then he took some field with me at third base. I thought I had a pretty good arm, but you know, his ball had a little more zip on it.'' As for Elway's swing at the plate Monday? "Well, you know there was a little more pressure on John Elway in this ballpark than there was on the rest of us,'' Brett said. Copyright 1998 The Denver Post
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
In front of a huge crowd filled
with Denver faithful, Elway was a hero despite not going
yard 