The Truly Awesome Power Of Travis Hafner

Leitch|published: Wed 16th August, 16:15 2006

It's probably time to start pointing out how freaking awesome Cleveland Indians DH Travis Hafner has been this year. Hey, there's no time like the middle of August!

If you're into that type of stuff, the Mensas at Baseball Prospectus say he's the best hitter in baseball this year. But if you're not convinced by math, let the fine folks at Cleveland blog Mistake By The Lake Sporting Times break it down for you.

Using Google Earth, MBTLST — an acronym we just gave them — figures out which geographic points outside of Jacobs Field are in fair territory, and which are in foul.

For example:

Port Burwell, Ontario? 91 miles outside Section 109 of the Jake. Fair ball. The Dawg Pound at Cleveland Browns Stadium? Barely fair: "The fair/foul line almost perfectly bisects Browns Stadium."

But it gets better:

This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it [object Object] .

So, Alaska is in fair territory, as is part of Scotland. But Maine is foul. Of course, as the site points out, it is possible the whole planet is in fair territory: Hafner would just have to orbit Earth once. Accounting for wind, that is.

Fair Territory [Mistake By The Lake Sporting Times] Respect Pronk [Sportszilla]