I wanted to do it justice, describing his home run swing with the absolute fitting description, for this is the column on the anniversary of his death.
Over and over, I watched the pinch-hit homer — “That’s hit in the air to right!” Joe Buck broadcasted. “Taveras, off the bench, has tied it!” — and I agonized over analogies.
And then, there it was. So simple, so perfect, so poignant:
His swing had such life.
When Oscar Taveras hit it — tying Game 2 of the 2014 National League championship series in the seventh inning — the Fox cameras followed the ball over the wall and then cut to the dugout.