Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles Angels’

I’ve been following several storylines regarding Torii Hunter as of late. I guess it all started when he got into a scuffle with the Yankees’ catcher, Ivan Rodriguez. The twosome got into a bench-clearing incident in the sixth inning as the Angels scored six runs en route to a 12-1 victory. Both men were tossed from the game. Both men were suspended for two games as a result.

But this was just the beginning.

I’ve followed Hunters The Torii Hunter Project for several years as he has set out to restore urban baseball for today’s youth. On Wednesday, things reached a new level.

Forming a Web site called WeMix.com, Hunter and Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges created “WeMix Diamond Cut,” a contest for the best original song made for an athlete. To the winner went the opportunity to record with Ludacris.

The contest will benefit baseball education for inner-city and rural youth. And apparently, Hunter and the Angels are a better fit than I had thought. Angel’s owner recentlly was quoted while attending the grand opening of a field that Hunter donated $50,000 to help build.

“One of the things we try to do in the Angels organization is to try to expand youth fields, the RBI program, inner-city baseball and continue to develop, that’s the future of the game.”

Not surprisingly, the field now bear’s Hunter’s name. Kind of makes you wonder if he has sat out recently with an actual injury (as reported), or if he just needs to catch his breath.

Related BBIFW Posts:

• A Tale of Two Hunters
• Wizards Watch: Torii Hunter Earning Good Press with New Team
• Torii Hunter – a Perfect (Angels) Fit
• Torii Hunter Does His Best Superman Impression
• All-Time Wizards

Torii Hunter’s joining of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim may have been the biggest signing of the off season. And his Spring Training success drew a lot of attention from fans, observers and his teammates. And so far, he’s been as advertised.

Despite an injury to his toe, Hunter has hasn’t slowed from a torrid start to the young season. Even after a minor traffic accident on Friday, Hunter found himself in lineup.

Hunter was smiling and joking during batting practice and preparing to play the Seattle Mariners on Friday night. He wasn’t grinning a few hours earlier, when his new car was rear-ended at a stop light near the ballpark.

Then he went and snagged a home run shot to preserve the Angels’ victory.

That was sweet, man,” Hunter said. “You can’t beat taking a home run away. That probably could have been the game-winner, so I’m pretty excited about that—winning the game with my glove. Things started off pretty rough today and it was pretty frustrating, so I went out there and tried to take it out on them in the game.”

Oh yeah, he also doubled in his his first at-bats to drive in three runs. All in a day’s work for the former Wizards center fielder.