NOW it's the Second-Longest Homer of 2019

I think it's officially a trend. Once spring and summer roll around, I seem to become a one-post-per-month sort of guy. What have I been up to in all that time? The weather has been pretty nice, so I've been spending a good deal of time outdoors. And some of that outdoors time involves watching live baseball at Coors Field.

Since my previous post exactly a month ago, I've been to four Rockies games, all of which they won. The first one was a freezing cold night where it rained and dipped into the low 40s. The rest were much more pleasant, and I saw some long home runs. My friend and I went to see the Cubbies in mid-June, and Ian Desmond drilled one 486 feet onto the left field concourse as a pinch hitter that night.

Speaking of the Cubs, you really should watch the clip of Cookie Monster doing the 7th Inning Stretch at Wrigley today.

Anyway, I've seen lots of huge home runs in the thin Denver air over the years, including some by Trevor Story. But that one from Desmond was just unbelievable. My initial guess from way on the other side of the stadium was 470', but even that underestimated it.

I decided that an occasion like that warranted my first Topps NOW purchase of the year, the subject of this one-card post.

2019 Topps NOW #357 Ian Desmond /146

Check out that power stroke. The current school of thought around the launch angle is very well represented on this card. And at the time, it was the longest home run in baseball this season. However, it didn't take long for someone to eclipse it, which Nomar Mazara did less than a week ago. His moonshot went 505 feet, far into the upper deck in Globe Life Park, home of the Rangers. More than a few fans didn't expect to see a baseball come that far up the seats.

I don't remember exactly which day this arrived in the mail, but Topps NOW might not have been quick enough to get this card to me before the record was smashed. Overall, the 2019 NOW design is pretty similar to years past, but they do a good job with the product. Of all the times I intended to purchase a Topps NOW card, they've never failed to create the card I had in mind. They are pricey, but I really do enjoy having a memento from a game I actually attended.

And if we're being honest, they're not much more expensive than a hot dog.