In Case You Missed It: Brewers’ Maldonado Knocks Cover Off Ball

April 21, 2014

"Come on now, kid! Knock the cover off the ball!" A very common expression in the baseball world; a form of encouragement for the batter as he approaches the plate.

Of course no one really expects the hitter to knock the cover off the ball, more so a hope to just see a frozen rope; a base-knock; a line drive; a humdinger.

In fact, the phrase was glorified in one of the most famous baseball movies of all-time, The Natural.

And wouldn't ya know it, it appears we have a real life Roy Hobbs on our hands. Well, it seems the Milwaukee Brewers do … in Martin Maldonado?

The hit came Friday night in Pittsburgh when Maldonado — the Brewers' backup catcher — literally knocked the cover right off the ball while hitting a routine groundball to Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez.

The Brewers won 5-3. Maldonado has 12 career home runs and a .227 career batting average.

Here is the poor ball that @Machete1224 knocked the cover off of earlier: #MILvsPIT pic.twitter.com/YvpUoFavKo

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 19, 2014

And just in case the video above gets taken down by the time you read this post, here it is again on MLB.com.

Josh Helmuth is the editor of CraveOnline Sports. @JHelmuth – "Like" on Facebook.

Josh is originally from the small berg of Arthur, Ill, proudly the Amish capital of the state. It also has one hell of a pumpkin patch.

Josh has enjoyed dipping his toes into a variety of careers since graduating from the University of Alabama, the most rewarding thus far having served as a youth director in southern California for four years, and his broadcasting career which has garnered two Emmy awards and three Edward R. Murrow Awards.

Josh enjoys loud rock music, Tom Hanks movies, dogs that like to cuddle and long runs. He is also always in search for America's greatest cheeseburger. Follow him here if you would like to be friends!