(Photo: Al Behrman/AP)
Joey Votto just couldn’t resist the reference.
The Cincinnati Reds first baseman had just completed a record-setting day at the plate, significantly brightening an otherwise dreary Great American Ball Park on Mother’s Day by capping a three-home run day by clubbing a walkoff grand slam far over the center field fence in a 9-6 Cincinnati win over the Washington Nationals.
After the game, Votto was asked if he thought his blast was going to leave the ballpark.
“I thought it was going to hit the light standard and everything was going to come down,” was his deadpan response, a reference to the climactic scene in “The Natural” in which Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs hits a home run that reaches a light standard and creates sparking explosions.