Michael Conforto's Cubs walk-off home run is a reminder of the good ol' days

Michael Conforto's Cubs walk-off home run is a reminder of the good ol' days originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Michael Conforto rose quickly through the minor leagues with the kind of swing you dream on.

There's something about left-handed hitters, the best ones, that presents a purity, a smoothness, something that can let your imagination wander into the biggest, brightest moments.

Conforto, and that swing -- he was meant to be a star.

And his arrival came for the New York Mets, destined to be a king in Queens.

But as far as humbling goes, there is no game more prolific than baseball. The most wonderful swings meet their match in that batter's box, particularly in this era of pitchers with the best stuff the game has ever seen.

The ball moves this way and that way, and it does it all at 100 miles per hour.

Hitting has always been hard. Now, it's nearly impossible.

And so a swing like Conforto's, after a strong start, can falter. It can fail to reach its potential. It can be the kind of thing that you think about with nostalgia, with sentimentality, like something that once was good but has now been lost.

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