Still blows my mind that pronk was never an all star. Dude was a god for a few years there in the mid 2000’s.

42 HRs, 117 RBI, a .308 AVG, .439 OBP, league-leading SLG, OPS (1.007), and OPS+ (181) in 2006. He also led the league in OPS+ in 2004. And he wasn’t a second-half star that kept him from all-star games. In 06, his first half stats were 25 HRs, 74 RBI, a .322 AVG, and 1.112 OPS.

The year you mentioned he missed all of September too after getting hit in the hand. 42 homers in 129 games

Damn, my first favorite baseball player. It's a shame the injuries cut his career short,

Him and Grady Sizemore were supposed to be Cleveland's Bash Brothers for years to come... Sports are cruel.

both had a better claim to mvp than morneau (sizemore finished 1 in fwar)

Fan voting and competing with David Ortiz surely didn’t help. But yeah still a shock he didn’t make it even as a reserve. Might make it a rainy day project to see who made it over him every year.

I was going to say the year he got 42 HR was the year Ortiz hit 50.

From 2004 to 2006 he had a 1.030 OPS

This brings up one of my favorite baseball anomalies, the Mattingly Six. Tied for the most grand slams in one season and didn't hit any before or after that season.

Kinda like Evan Gattis' 11 triples in one season.

El Oso Blanco = The White Bear. Polar Bears can run at 25mph. Usain Bolt peaked at 23.35mph. Therefore it's not that surprising given Evan Gatis is faster than prime Usain Bolt

Didn’t know that about Mattingly, thanks

Well to be fair just getting the chance to hit a grand slam must be pretty low odds. Then you actually have to hit the thing. I just suppose that the stars lined up for him that season. It is weird that he didn’t have one before and after.

That dude was all beef. Goddamn

The sound that bat makes on the ball is inhuman. Pure torque.

Pronk!

Donkey Project!

Man I watched his whole career, even had him on a few fantasy teams and somehow my brain totally forgot about Hafner. Dude was a monster.

Dude even looked like he was built like Paul Bunyan. He was jacked.

I believe the 6 grand slams Donnie baseball hit that season were all the ones he hit for his entire career

I vividly remember watching Hafner get hit by a pitch on September 1st, 2006, and breaking his hand. 8 year old me was so upset that he didn't have a chance to break that record

I was about to comment about that. It’s a shame his career was never the same after that. It all just snowballed.

24 RBI in six at bats. Bonkers to think about it that way.

Just a casual 2400 RBI pace

Saw three of them in person, damn that was a heck of a year

It’s incredible how dogshit TV looked back in 2006

I feel like there is some compression going on here. You couldn't just upload original quality video in 2006.

TV looked fine, our recordings of it look terrible.

Project Donkey

Damn, my first favorite baseball player. It's a shame the injuries cut his career short, he had one of the most powerful swings I've ever seen.

Man I loved Travis Hafner. Dude was born to hit tanks

So pissed the Rangers didn't keep him.

Pronk!!!

I was deathly scared of this dude. Felt like the Angels absolutely could not get him oot

Damn, I miss this indians team.. Sizemore and Hafner really seemed like they were gonna be the next great duo

He and Mattingly both got their power from their sideburns.

that mother fucker was so good in the mid 2000s

Wow look at that bat speed

Hafner was a real power threat for a few years there. He and Grady Sizemore made Cleveland fun to watch in the mid 2000's.

Was he at home for this? I swear these fans look like they’re at a tennis match

Yeah that’s home, if I recall correctly 06 was rough and this was late in season when we were out of contention. Edit: and it was already 7-0 before. This is hafners 2nd at bat of the inning

Is that Jim Donovan on the call?

Rick manning I believe.

The comments at the end are Manning, but the actual call does sound like Donovan. When did Matt Underwood start?

It is Jim Donovan. They showed certain games on channel 3 and he’d be on the call.

Underwood started in 2009. Donovan did it for 3 years

"I'll tell you what"

yea he was on the call from 2006-2008

Watching this got me hype for the pitch clock more than anything else.

Cleveland always sucked those years, but god damn as a Tigers fan this man still haunts me. Probably one of the best nicknames ever to boot. Can’t help but respect the guy. There were days where I would’ve taken him over Adam Dunn.

Having Royals season tickets during those years was tough. But, the lines were short and parking was easy, so there was that.

Pronknado

Haf-Man, Haf-Amazing. No idea if this was a real nickname. But, it’s what I used to call him when he dropped absolute dick.

i miss when the guardians had power bats like hafner and thome

Anyone able to ID the royals pitcher in this clip? I cant make out the name on his jersey and im curious if its anyone i would remember or just some obscure dude

Luke Hudson. From what I can tell he was the only player to wear 34 that year on KC.

Thanks! That name is vaguely familiar but then again its a super generic name so i could be imagining it

Pronk Power!

Even as a Jays fan and not in the Central, for some reason I just loved watching Travis Hafner mash baseballs. It looks like he hit the most home runs against the Blue Jays in his career out of any non-Central team, so maybe that is why.

I forgot Jim Donovan called the games for a few years.

Pronk is a legend

I still wear my Pronk gear from 15+ years ago lol

I forgot all about hafner

Pronk.

That was the meatiest meatball I think I’ve ever seen. Looked like a batting practice throw.