NEW YORK - Troy Tulowitzki has to pause and give it some thought, because, he says, "it's a hard question" when asked what his favorite home run is.
The Blue Jays shortstop has hit 224 dingers in his career, plus four more in the playoffs. That's a lot to choose from.
"Anytime it's a big home run, playoff home runs, or home runs that put your team ahead," Tulowitzki says, racking his brain for an answer. "But for someone that I've seen, home runs, it's got to be Jose Bautista's. The bat flip. It gets so much pub and it was obviously a huge hit for us, basically put us in the next round. I'll have to go with that one."
Tulowitzki was in the dugout when Bautista's legendary three-run shot snapped a tie with the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series. Even having been part of a pennant-winning team with the 2007 Colorado Rockies, Tulowitzki has never seen a home run set a crowd afire the way Bautista's did.
"The place was going crazy," Tulowitzki says. "It really just took the city by storm. ... A lot of people will remember that for the rest of their lives."
Bautista certainly remembers that iconic tater, but it's not his favorite. With 322 career home runs, plus six in the postseason, the 36-year-old right fielder has as hard a time choosing his top dinger as Tulowitzki does.
"Anything that isn't an inside-the-parker is good," Bautista says. "I don't like inside-the-parkers, because I can never get one. I like jogging around the bases."
That narrows down the choice for Bautista to 321 of his regular-season home runs and all of the playoff ones. Excluded: the 22nd home run of the 54 that Bautista hit in 2010, a go-ahead, two-run inside-the-park home run off Kevin Slowey of the Minnesota Twins, made possible by a collision between Denard Span and Delmon Young in left-center field in Toronto.
"They're all like my babies," Bautista says. "They all help the team. They all have some significance, personal and team-oriented, but I can't really say. Obviously, the more you hit, the better, but there's not really one. ... I can see why the fans would make (the ALDS homer) their favorite. There was a lot of significance.
"It was a big home run, a great moment, and it was one that extended a playoff run to the next round after 22 years of not making the playoffs. Everybody was tuned in, and it's a memorable moment. I understand why it would be that one for them. I'm not trying to downplay that one, not trying to downplay the 54, not trying to downplay my first time. They all have their significance. It's hard to pick one over the other one. I've had a few."
Justin Smoak also has hit a few home runs - 129, to be exact - and for him, the choice of a favorite is much easier. Only one of the first baseman's home runs, a two-run shot last May 3 off Phil Klein of the Rangers, ended a game.
"My first walk-off homer, that was pretty cool," Smoak says. "It was a tie game, in the 10th, and it was just a homer that was pretty cool. It was good, got drenched and everything else. Real good."
What Smoak left out is a key detail about how the game was tied in the 10th inning. It was because he hit a homer off Shawn Tolleson in the ninth inning to break up a Rangers shutout bid.
Five years ago, Russell Martin had a similar experience while playing for the Yankees. He hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning against the Mets to break up a shutout bid, then a walk-off shot in the ninth. Martin, though, is another Blue Jays player unable to name a favorite among his own home runs. A favorite home run ever, though, that's an easy call for him.
"I like 'em all, but if I'm thinking of the history of the game, my favorite home run, it's Joe Carter," Martin says. "For memories, that's the one that I'm the most emotionally attached to. You see him jumping up and down, and being from Montreal and watching the Blue Jays, that's the most memorable home run, Joe Carter off Mitch Williams."
Martin was 10 years old when Carter won the 1993 World Series for Toronto. His favorite player on the Blue Jays then was Roberto Alomar, but, like he says, "that home run was unbelievable."
