Here are some of the reactions to New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano winning the 2011 Home Run Derby by outslugging Boston's Adrian Gonzalez Monday night.
Cano:
"It doesn’t matter how much money you make or how long you play, that’s the kind of memory you can always share with your family. When you retire, you can look over and say, ‘Wow, I was good back in the day.’"
ESPN's Jayson Stark:
In 25 years of Home Run Derbies before this one, only two men -- Ortiz and Abreu -- had ever hit 11 homers in a final round. Now two men had just done it back-to-back. Incredible.
Cano could smell it now. He chest-bumped his friend, Jordan the barber, from the Bronx. He huddled with his Yankees teammates -- Russell Martin, Curtis Granderson and David Robertson.
Then Robinson Cano settled in for one last defining swing of the bat, lined it 408 feet into the right-field seats and headed right for the mound -- to jump into the arms of his father.
"So can we split the trophy," Robbie Cano said with a laugh, "half and half?"
It was hard to digest what had just happened here. To beat Adrian Gonzalez, all Robinson Cano had to do was hit more home runs than any man had ever hit in a Derby final -- more than Big Mac, more than Kenneth Griffey Jr., more than Josh Hamilton or Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols.
And then that's exactly what he did? Seriously?
Of course he did -- as his father stood on the mound, completely unruffled, actually counting down the home runs his son needed to win.
"Every time he hit a home run in the last round," Jose Cano said, "I said, '10 more … nine more … eight more.' And when he got the last one, I said, 'Just one. Just give me the one. That's it.'"