A family effort won the 2011 Home Run Derby on Monday. Robinson Cano came out the winner over Adrian Gonzalez with the help of former Astros pitcher and father Jose Cano.
“As a kid, you dream to be up here with a bunch of guys that you watched back in the day, like Sosa, Griffey, McGwire, Giambi, how much fun they have,” Robinson Cano said.
You had a feeling that something special NEEDED to happen with the status of baseball. We’re in two lockouts currently, so baseball should be saving us from misery but they’ve done a rotten job lately. In an event that has decreased in popularity, just like the sport, the Cano family provided baseball with something that helped make the event more interesting.
“The best thing wasn’t my swing,” the younger Cano said afterward. “It was the kind of man who was throwing — my dad. He knows me really well.”
Cano outlasted seven other sluggers and edged past Adrian Gonzalez in the final round at Chase Field in Arizona. The elder Cano has trained Robinson his entire life, leading him to being a four-time All-star and MVP-caliber player who could lead the Yankees in the next decade after the retirement of their other superstars.
Robinson was sure to include his mom in the event also. After hitting a home run in the second he mouthed, “That one’s for you, mom” into the camera. Glad the Cano family could provide some excitement to an otherwise uneventful night for baseball.
