Professional Baseball loses a ‘Powerhouse’:Jimmy Wynn(Houston Astros), “The Toy Cannon” gone at age 78

Every kid who wanted to be a home run hitter, and who wanted to drive the “Long Ball”, wanted to be like Jimmy Wynn…He was not very tall, only stood about 5’9, but his forearms looked like they might be power saws, they way they used to cut into a fastball…

Jimmy Wynn was sort of like a “Popeye the Sailor Man” character and you just knew as a kid, back there when you were following “The Toy Cannon”, that Jimmy Wynn was always eating his spinach…He was just so strong and when he had a bat in his in hand, and when Jimmy Wynn/”The Toy Cannon” stepped up to the plate, you just knew he was going to do some damage, and the baseball was about to be the victim….

He killed a baseball when he hit it out of Cincinnati’s Crosley Field….He just crushed it…The ball ended up on the highway outside of the stadium…Saw him hit that one on the sports highlights one night, and still can’t believe how far that baseball traveled…It landed out there on the highway/road…

Wynn/”The Toy Cannon” sent one of Phil Niekro’s pitches into the stratosphere at the Houston Astrodome and it went so high, that the announcers said the ball had gone into orbit…

Nobody and I mean nobody, hit a ball harder that Jimmy Wynn did back in the day….But, his day is done…Gone at age 78 and you’ll see more about Jimmy Wynn below, and you will be able to get a better appreciation for what we are talking about, when you read the Associated Press account of his death and his baseball life, that found today, in the High Point Enterprise online…www.hpenews.com…
CLICK HERE to catch the full story on Jimmy Wynn, from the High Point Enterprise sports section….CLICK HERE to catch a photo of Jimmy Wynn, right after he had hit another home run.

Jimmy Wynn, the diminutive Houston slugger whose monster shots in the 1960s and ’70s earned him the popular nickname “The Toy Cannon,” has died. He was 78.

The Astros said the three-time All-Star outfielder died last Thursday in Houston, but did not provide further details.

Just 5-foot-9, Wynn was packed with power. He hit more than 30 homers twice with Houston, including a career-high 37 in 1967 at the pitcher-friendly Astrodome.

Wynn became known for his long home runs and two became particularly famous.

**********The first came on June 10, 1967, when he knocked one out of Cincinnati’s Crosley Field, over the scoreboard in left-center and onto the highway outside of the stadium.

Almost three years later, on April 12, 1970, he became the first player to hit a home run into the upper deck of the cavernous Astrodome when he sent a pitch from Phil Niekro more than 500 feet down the left field line.**********

“Jimmy’s success on the field helped build our franchise from its beginnings,” the Astros said in a statement. “After his retirement, his tireless work in the community impacted thousands of young people in Houston. Although he is no longer with us, his legacy will live on at Minute Maid Park, at the Astros Youth Academy and beyond.”