| 13 July 2009
Over the weekend I got a last minute invite to Saturday's Sox. John Smoltz earned his first win and the Sox and Royals scored 24 total runs... all in all it was a great game.
Mixed in with all that scoring was Jacoby Ellsbury's 39th stolen base of the season and seeing him up close from just behind the Royals dugout, I was prompted to tell our neighbors the legend of Ellsbury's speed.
In short, the legend says that The Amazing Ellsbury, challenged by his siblings, chased and caught a deer racing through the woods of Oregon with his bare hands.
My neighbors were skeptical... but just as I finished my tale, Jacoby raced around third base and scored, earning rookie Aaron Bates his first major league RBI and supplying us with a cool summer breeze in the process.
Impressed, but still doubtful, I told my neighbors that I could prove that Ellsbury was realistically quick enough to catch a deer. Here are the results:
Jacoby ran the 40-yard dash in 4.2 second in college. That's quick and he might be even faster after a few years of major league training...
4.2 second to run 40 yards equals 28.5 feet per second... which equals 19.43 MPH.
Deers of various types have been clocked anywhere from 30 to 40 MPH in a full sprint.
Asssuming Jacoby was chasing this deer through woods and not in an open field, at almost 20 MPH, I think it is very realistic that he could at least "tag" the speedy deer if challenged.
Bottom Line: I'm a huge fan of legends, tall tales and the like. I had no doubt when I first heard this story and Jacoby's 40 steals this season, including a steal of home plate, solidify that the kid is super fast.
The only thing left to do is smuggle deer into Fenway and set it lose the next time Ellsbury takes off for second... but for now, consider me a true believer.
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