Cincinnati Reds: Billy Hamilton Out to Prove He’s the Fastest Athlete in City
By Anthony Sosa
Who exactly is the fastest athlete in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio? Sports’ fans may find out soon enough. A race between two professional athletes will settle that debate.
Two of the fastest athletes in Cincinnati, Cincinnati Reds’ outfielder Billy Hamilton and Cincinnati Bengals’ newly drafted wide receiver John Ross, agreed to a race Thursday to raise money for charity, per Cincinnati Sports Xchange reporter Jeff Wallner.
#Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton agreed to race #Bengals first-round pick John Ross for charity. No date/plan set as of yet.
— Jeff Wallner (@JeffWallner) May 4, 2017
The Bengals selected University of Washington wide receiver John Ross with the ninth overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. Earlier this year in March, Ross broke the NFL Combine 40-yard dash record with a time of 4.22 seconds. Ross narrowly edged out former recorded holder Chris Johnson’s 40-yard dash time by .02 seconds.
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As for Hamilton, he remains one of the quickest players in baseball, right now. In 2017, Hamilton currently leads all of baseball in steals with 16. So far, Hamilton’s succeeded in 16 of 17 stolen base attempts this season. He finished the past three seasons with the second most steals in all of baseball.
Hamilton recorded the 200th steal of his career against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday. According to MLB.com reporter Mark Sheldon and the Elias Sports Bureau, Hamilton is the fourth fastest player to reach the 200-steal milestone.
It took Vince Coleman 280 games to steal 200 bags, Tim Raines 361 games and Rickey Henderson 366 games. As for Hamilton, his 200th steal occurred in his 424th career game, per Sheldon.
Some good company for Hamilton. All three players that beat Hamilton to 200 steals rank in the top six career steals leaderboard. Henderson sits at No.1 with 1406, Raines at No.5 with 808 and Coleman at No. 6 with 752.
Hamilton discussed his race with Ross and the 40-yard dash in an interview with MLB.com reporters Gemma Kaneko and Sheldon:
"“I did it in ninth grade. I was a 4.5 flat, but that was when I was just becoming a little older and learning how to run a little bit,” Hamilton said. “I haven’t done it in a long time. It’s something I’d like to see myself, just to see where I’d be at compared to those guys.”"
The ultimate speed bragging rights in Cincinnati are up for grabs when Ross and Hamilton race. The race has no date set for it yet. There also is no plan for how the race will take shape.
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When the day does come, though, sports’ fans can break out their stopwatches and prepare for a race for the ages.