Atlanta rookie Jason Heyward belts homer with first Major League swing

[Auggie]

MLB.com / 4-5-10

ATLANTA -- Wanting to celebrate his son's introduction to the Major League scene, Eugene Heyward purchased more than 60 tickets for friends and family members to attend Opening Day win at Turner Field on Monday afternoon.

While Braves fans will forever remember this Opening Day as the one on which Jason Heyward belted a 414-foot homer with the first swing of his career, the elder Heyward's memories of this blast will be blurred by the mob scene that he entered once his son sent Carlos Zambrano's 2-0 fastball into the Braves' bullpen beyond the right-center field wall.

We went crazy," Eugene Heyward said. "We were all hugging, high-fiving and going crazy. I didn't actually see it. We were being mobbed by each other. We were knocking each other's hats and glasses off. We just saw the ball go out and after that we just erupted. It was unbelievable."

Considering that this marked just the fifth time in franchise history that a player homered in the first plate appearance of his career, Heyward's memorable first-inning homer certainly bordered on unbelievable. The blast gave the Braves a lead that they wouldn't relinquish on the way to a 16-5 rout of the Cubs.

LINK: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100405&content_id=9088530&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

I love stories like this. What a way to begin a career.