Phillies: Rollins Looks For A World-Record Long Shot
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Phillies' shortstop Jimmy Rollins used his day off today to shoot for a world record.
Rollins swung for the fence every time with a carbon fiber-fiberglass composite bat, as he launched balls toward the art museum today along a blocked-off section of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Shown on cable channel ESPN 3 and sponsored by Red Bull, the mark to beat was 576 feet, set by Babe Ruth.
It's a distance that Rollins respects.
"I already imagined it was going to be pretty difficult," he said today. "You know, it would have been nice to have a hurricane sitting overhead or some 747s blowing behind me, but with science and technology, anything's possible these days."
Rollins cranked out shots until the end of the ESPN telecast and made a personal best-distance of 463 feet, but that's still a "baby" Ruth -- and the record stands.
Reported by John Ostapkovich, KYW Newsradio 1060
