Editor's Note: Jonny Gomes Is Awesome

Over the weekend, our own Sean Newell asked if Jonny Gomes, the Oakland A's outfielder and designated Rob Deer, was "the biggest douchebag in baseball." Gomes's apparent crime was admiring a go-ahead home run. Here are some things to know about Jonny Gomes: He was occasionally homeless as a kid. He used to scavenge empties from campsites around Petaluma, Calif. At 16, he was the passenger in a car accident that killed his best friend. At 22, he had a heart attack. He once hit a home run at Petaluma High School that traveled through the uprights at one end of a neighboring football field. He once hit a 474-foot home run at Tropicana Field that cleared the Batter's Eye restaurant in center. Dallas Braden says Gomes hit a home run off him in Phoenix during spring training that "the Howler monkeys caught in the zoo." In 62 plate appearances this year, Gomes has either walked, struck out, or homered in 37 of them. He makes Dave Kingman look like George Sisler. As a matter of editorial policy, Deadspin maintains that Jonny Gomes is awesome. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. We regret any confusion.

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