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  Bob Lutz  

Epic homer one for the ages

By the time it happened, there had been a one-hour rain delay; Eck Stadium, which earlier held 2,400 people, was nearly empty.

That defies the legend of the event 23 years later. At least 2,400 fans, times 20, will tell you they were witnesses on that late-April evening to one of the most prodigious home runs ever hit.

Oklahoma State's Pete Incaviglia launched a ball into the heavy, damp air, past the left-field wall, over the light standards and into a lot across 21st street.

"Had to be 500 feet," said Terry Elliot, a back-up catcher on the Shockers' 1985 team who now does analysis on WSU's radio broadcasts. "Furthest I've ever seen a ball hit."

It was one of the most amazing things to happen in what used to be one of college baseball's best rivalries. Now, Okahoma State and Wichita State rarely play, and the blood doesn't boil nearly like it did back then, when the cast of characters and the high stakes created one memorable moment after another.

Incaviglia's blast came in a mundane game. It was a three-run shot in the seventh inning, and it gave Oklahoma State an 8-2 lead. Yet, it's one of the most memorable moments from the rivalry for one simple reason: The distance the ball traveled.

If anyone was sleeping in the bleachers, the sound of bat meeting ball surely woke them up.

"It's just one of those sounds," said Rich McIntyre, the Shocker pitcher who gave up the blast. "My roommate at the time was using the pay phone outside our clubhouse, behind our dugout, and he always tells me about hearing that sound when (Incaviglia) hit the ball."

It was no shock that Incaviglia touched one off. He set NCAA single-season records in 1985 for homers (48), RBIs (143), slugging percentage (1.140) and total bases (285). All still stand, and Incaviglia put up those unreal numbers in only 75 games.

He was a specimen of muscle and more muscle, topped off by muscle. He played on seven teams during a 12-year major-league career, finishing with 206 homers and a .246 average. But his place in baseball history was cemented with his incredible junior season at Oklahoma State.

"I had faced him the previous summer," McIntyre said. "He played for Hutchinson, and I played for the Jays and I had struck him out on curve balls."

After the lengthy rain delay, though, McIntyre, who came out of the bullpen, and catcher Rick Wrona decided to go after Incaviglia with a first-pitch fastball.

"We figured he would at least take the first pitch after the delay," McIntyre said.

Instead, Incaviglia swung like it was the last time he would ever swing a bat.

McIntyre's fastball was over the middle of the plate and down around Incaviglia's knees. His wheelhouse.

"Incaviglia was a guy who swung a sledgehammer in the on-deck circle," McIntyre said. "Even football players were in awe of the way he lifted weights. He was just a big, strong guy."

And he had no trouble with that particular McIntyre delivery. He got his tree-trunk arms extended, and the rest took care of itself.

"I watched it leave the yard," McIntyre said. "When you give up one like that, you've got to watch it."

McIntyre, who still lives in Wichita, was no slouch; he won 30 games during his four-year Wichita State career. But whenever the Shockers and Oklahoma State get ready to play a game, he gets calls about the gopher ball of all gopher balls.

Players on both benches came out of their seats to watch Incaviglia's shot travel.

Brian Otte, now a teacher and coach at Moundridge High, was a 21-year-old WSU student then. He ran the scoreboard from his spot in the press box.

"I just remember everyone up there looking at each other after the ball landed," Otte said.

When the game was over, Otte crossed 21st Street to look for the baseball. He took a flashlight out of his car and found what he thinks is the ball Incaviglia hit resting against a building.

He picked it up, thinking he would someday get Incaviglia to autograph the baseball.

Never happened. Now, he's not even sure he still has the baseball.

"That was two or three moves ago," Otte said.

There is some dispute, though, as to who found The Ball Incaviglia hit.

Otte thinks he found it, but Elliot remembers something different.

"In those days, we had our pitchers who weren't pitching go into the stands and take foul balls away from fans," he said. "One of our guys must have gone over to look for that ball, and he came back and told us we wouldn't believe where he found it."

The myth of Incaviglia's home run grows with every passing year. More people say they saw it than did. People who think they found the ball might not have.

But there's one thing everybody agrees upon. It was a shot, and it went a long, long way.

"I've been to Shocker games since, and the wind might be blowing out and I'll hear a dad say to his kid, 'Wow, I've never seen a ball hit that far,' " McIntyre said. "And I'm looking at the guy sitting next to me and saying, 'He has no idea.' "

Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz co-hosts "Sports Daily" from 9-11 a.m. weekdays on KFH, 1240-AM and 98.7-FM. Reach him at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com.