James Shields Will Never Live Down Bartolo Colon Home Run

James Shields has been one of baseball’s most durable and respected hurlers over the past decade. “Big Game James” has been an All-Star, has topped 200 innings in each of the past nine seasons and was the lead man in outstanding rotations for both the Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals. Now none of that matters because he surrendered a home run to Bartolo Colon, probably the worst hitter to have a bat in his hands in Major League Baseball history.

Yes, as you all now know, Shields left one over the plate to “Big Sexy” and the 42-year-old somehow made contact and lined the ball out of Petco Park. In doing so, the New York Mets righty became the oldest player in major league history to hit his first home run. Shields is a really tough competitor, so as you can imagine, he wasn’t pleased with himself:

Shields is universally recognized as a good dude, so I’m going to give him a break for being a little annoyed by giving up that home run. His San Diego Padres had been playing and pitching well and it had to irk him that he was the guy who ended their run of good play, especially while  giving up a dinger to Colon in the process.

Shields also probably realized that no matter what he does from this point on, he’ll always be the guy who gave up a home run to baseball’s worst batter.