"For years, New England dads of a certain age have been regaling the world with a story about Jim Rice breaking his bat on a check swing. They don't build ballplayers like that anymore! I don't necessarily doubt the Jim Rice story, but video evidence of such a swing does not seem to exist."
"But the video of yesterday's game isn't going anywhere, nor is video of Albert Belle, Carlos Santana, and Yasiel Puig all doing the same thing. So, sorry dad, by they do in fact make ballplayers like that these days, and Wilyer Abreu is one of them."
Spring training games hold minimal significance for the season ahead, despite the Red Sox losing to the Pirates with a notable home run by prospect Konnor Griffin. A longstanding anecdote about Jim Rice breaking his bat on a check swing has circulated among New England fans for years, suggesting superior athleticism in past eras. However, video evidence of Rice's legendary swing remains unavailable, while modern players including Albert Belle, Carlos Santana, Yasiel Puig, and Wilyer Abreu have all executed similar check-swing home runs captured on video. This demonstrates that contemporary ballplayers possess comparable physical abilities to their predecessors, contradicting the nostalgic narrative that previous generations were built differently.
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