“You should see the video.”

The charge comes not from me but from Jacoby Ellsbury. On a day when instant replay will be available for the first time at Fenway Park (some good fodder on the topic from the Inside Trags can be found here), it seemed only appropriate to consult the record and revisit a disputed homer from 2004.

That helmet might be useful in the outfield every once in a while...

Ellsbury is still scraped up from his unfortunate encounter with a chain-link fence in Toronto on Sunday, but said that the catch he made in the Rogers Centre was child’s play compared with his run-in with an even less forgiving fence in Oregon State University’s Goss Stadium in a game against Stanford. (Yes, I just linked to my own blog entry, an act that I find grotesquely meta and self-indulgent. I beg your forgiveness.)

“This one (from Toronto) didn’t look too bad. The other one (in college), I dove headfirst. I jumped over the (warning) track, I caught it, (had) momentum, I hit the pole,” said Ellsbury, recalling that Goss featured a chain-link fence with posts that were inexplicably placed in front of the wall. “It was gross looking…All the skin off the side of my face was just rubbed off from the fence. I had a concussion and (there was) blood everywhere.”

There is disagreement about the result of Ellsbury’s efforts. While Ellsbury insists that he caught the ball, the umpires ruled it in play, permitting Jonny Ash to sprint around the bases for an inside-the-park homer. Current Sox teammate Jed Lowrie, who was a member of the Stanford team, that call.

“I remember seeing (Ellsbury) flying the air head-first into a pole-slash-chain-link fence,” said Lowrie (who, it is worth noting, did not have a concussion when observing the event in question. “We got a homerun out of it. Either way, it was a phenomenal play, and it just showed that (Ellsbury) is willing to sell out for his team.”

Ellsbury, who watched replays of the play shortly after he made it, said that he would love to revisit video of the event. Only there is no evidence of the play to be found: not on youtube.com, not through the Oregon State Athletics Department, and, to date, not through the Stanford Athletics Department (though they’re kindly trying!). 

Behold, the mighty power of this Nugget!

So, while New England waits for results from Josh Beckett‘s visit to medical confidant Dr. James Andrews, I am issuing a call to arms: if anyone can find the video of Ellsbury’s play, send me the link and you’ll get a pretty sweet haul — EITHER a signed copy of Mike Lowell’s Deep Drive: A Long Journey to Finding the Champion Within OR a rare nesting doll of Nuggets big man Nene. 

Until we find the actual video, I encourage submissions of other great man-meets-wall moments in outfield history. An obvious choice to get this rolling would be Rodney McCray’s minor-league beauty from the early 1990s. (Interestingly, while Ellsbury played for the OSU Beavers, McCray was playing against the Portland Beavers when he achieved his infamy.)

Add your suggestions to the Comments section, or feel free to email me at aspeier@weei.com.