How Griffey’s warehouse HR ended up at a house party
July 12, 1993, was a scorching evening in Baltimore and Camden Yards, packed to the gills with followers seeking to catch a Home Run Derby ball, felt even hotter.
The Rangers’ Juan Gonzalez and the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr. had blasted their technique to seven dwelling runs a bit — beating out heavyweights like Albert Belle, Cecil Fielder and Barry Bonds. Now, the 2 would face off in a playoff, the primary playoff in Derby historical past, to see who was the very best energy hitter within the recreation.
But earlier than they went head-to-head, there was a brief break within the motion.
17-year-old Mark Pallack and his buddy, Jim Gates, noticed the pause in play as a chance to get out of the warmth of the right-field bleachers and take a stroll down Eutaw Street — the little street that goes in between the again of the bleachers and the stadium’s warehouses. Maybe they might get some separation from the suffocating crowds; soak up a few of these cool breezes drifting off the harbor.
“I said to my buddy, I was like, ‘Let’s go get some air for a few minutes,'” Pallack advised me in a cellphone name.
But that “short break,” proved to be a lot shorter than anticipated.
All of a sudden, a loud gasp went up from the followers round them and a ball sailed by way of the sky — rocketing off the brick warehouse. Pallack shortly sprang into motion.
“I just lunged, just jumped on it,” he remembered. “My back was on the asphalt, on the concrete, and I was just cradling it in my chest. It was crazy. There was at least 30 or 40 people who jumped on me.”
Pallack did not realize it within the second, however he had simply snatched up a memento from a house run that may be replayed for the following three a long time. One of the good highlights involving one of many coolest athletes of all time.
Ken Griffey Jr.’s 465-foot dinger off Camden Yards’ B&O warehouse.
Eventually, safety cleared out the dogpile. Pallack had some scrapes and bruises however nothing worse for the wear and tear.
“We were just laughing,” Pallack stated. “I had the ball in one hand and was high-fiving [Bill] with the other hand. I was disheveled, but in a state of euphoria.”
Through crowd murmurs and stadium PA bulletins, Pallack quickly discovered that this was (and nonetheless is) the one dwelling run ball to ever attain the warehouse on the fly. Realizing the importance of the hit, an Orioles PR particular person approached Pallack and supplied to deliver him to satisfy Griffey after the competition. (Griffey ended up shedding to Gonzalez within the tiebreaker, however the warehouse homer was the one factor anyone was speaking about).
So, as soon as Gonzalez was topped the champ and the on-field festivities had been over, Pallack and Gates had been ushered down from outskirts of Camden Yards to teenage-baseball-fan-heaven. A spot the place baseball’s greatest stars and celebrities — on the town for the Midsummer Classic — congregated collectively.
“As you can imagine, a 17-year-old kid. Baseball is my thing,” Pallack stated. “All of a sudden Bill Clinton is walking by me, Michael Jordan, Kirby Puckett walking out of the shower — I’m just like, ‘Where am I right now?'”
But as an alternative of specializing in the gamers, the media had descended on Pallack — the child who one way or the other snagged the now well-known warehouse home-run ball. Along with signing a bat for Michael Jordan that weekend, Griffey came visiting to signal the ball for Pallack.
“He took a couple minutes to come over and sign and stuff,” Pallack advised me. “He said, ‘That’s a pretty cool catch.'”
Pallack and Gates, after all, wished to inform all their buddies about their unimaginable evening. Fortunately, a buddy was having a home celebration on the outskirts of town, again close to the place Pallack lived. The two checked out one another, smiled and knew this may be the right place to make their large announcement.
Pallack confirmed as much as the entrance door with the ball in a bit of plastic sandwich bag, displaying it for anyone who wished to see. A rubber band held the highest closed. All the partygoers, after all, had watched the Derby and seen the Griffey homer. They had been shocked to seek out out that their buddy Mark was the man who picked it up. In truth, that is precisely what he saved saying to folks whereas holding up the ball and telling the story: “I’m the guy!”
“I was obviously the most popular kid at the party,” Pallack laughed. “We were all just jumping up and down.”
The subsequent day, Pallack could not wait to indicate the ball to a great buddy, Tiffany, down the road from his home. She could not consider he had gotten the ball, both. Years later, the 2 would get married — though Pallack does not appear to assume his getting the ball that evening and displaying it to her performed a significant component in her saying sure.
Pallack’s Derby story ended up getting reported in a number of media retailers, together with the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post. He bought quite a few cash provides for the ball, however wished to maintain the prized possession someplace in Baltimore it may very well be prominently showcased. He ended up donating it to the Babe Ruth Museum — a spot he is since served on the Board of Directors and stayed very concerned with over the a long time.
“Yeah, I’ve gone full circle with it,” he stated.
And, even 30 years later, he has fixed, fantastic reminders of the reminiscence. The clip is handed round on a regular basis on the web as one in all Griffey’s career-defining moments and, quickly after the homer, the Orioles put up a plaque on the brick it ricocheted off of into Pallack’s arms.
Its marker is there eternally for buddies to take selfies with, for future sluggers to take purpose at and, most significantly, for Pallack to reminisce with when he is along with his family members again at Baltimore’s ballpark. Warm flashbacks of that wild night again in 1993.
“I showed my daughter,” Pallack stated. “You know, it’s a neat experience because I love, even being 47, going to a baseball game is still one of the great experiences of my life. It’s serendipity that I caught it. We’ll go by there and snap some pictures and just laugh about it. … It’s a great memory.”