Nick Punto isn’t a great baseball player. You might even argue that he’s not been a good baseball player. After all, he reached the major leagues a dozen years ago, yet he’s still well short of a thousand career hits. Among the 283 players with at least 3,000 plate appearances since then, Punto’s OPS+ is ninth-worst.
Nick Punto’s very best Nick Punto impression
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Spor
Monday night, all of that seemed completely irrelevant when this happened:
source: Chad Moriyama
What made this so ridiculously interesting was the utter insanity of the thing, because you see Nick Punto’s ground ball bounded into center field ... THERE WAS NO PLAY AT FIRST BASE.
Of course Punto’s lunacy inspired a series of amusing tweets, a few of which I’ve curated for your amusement:
What in God's name is Nick Punto DOING?
— Anthony Jackson (@dodgerscribe) September 17, 2013
Nick Punto slides head-first into first base so he can feel alive.
— DodgerzGM (@DodgerzGM) September 17, 2013
Just imagine all the things Nick Punto will have to slide headfirst into after he retires, just to get his fix.
— Mike Bates (@commnman) September 17, 2013
If you haven't read "An Oral History Of Nick Punto Sliding Headfirst Into First Base" by @RandBallsStu, FIX THIS NOW. http://t.co/YsVZp6amI1
— Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) September 17, 2013
There’s more, of course. And don’t thank me; thank Nick Punto for being so Nick Punto.
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