Forget Kirk Gibson's one-legged walk-off in the '88 World Series, or Roy Hobbs smashing the stadium lights. The best home run in baseball history came from a man named La Tortuga.
Tortuga—also known as Willians Astudillo to all you squares—is technically a back-up catcher for the Minnesota Twins. But that's like calling Paul Bunyan a flannel enthusiast. Tortuga is more myth than man, becoming a Minnesota fan favorite in just 30 games last season for his gregarious personality and showboating ways.
The 27-year-old Astudillo has been playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, kicking ass and taking names to the tune of a .325/.370/.500 slash with 10 homers and just four strikeouts in 235 plate appearances. However, you're not reading about Tortuga because of his fine hitting in the winter league. You're reading about Tortuga because he smacked a game-winning bomb in a playoff game, celebrating his feat by admiring it from home plate for, oh, forever, and proceeding to pirouette around the bases:
All due respect to Helen of Troy, this was the dinger that launch'd a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium.
Probably for the best that this happened in the VWL and not Major League Baseball; it would have spurred hundreds of "Did Astudillo disrespect the game?" panels on MLB Network from crusty has-beens. As it is, consider this a formal petition to bronze this moment into Cooperstown. Because heroes get remembered, but legends never die.
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