What was left to be said about the incredible final chapter in Bartolo Colon’s Major League career as he somehow continued to pitch effectively as a starter at the age of 43 for the 2016 New York Mets? 

Then, on May 7, 2016, with one swing of the bat, he did the unthinkable and wrote an entirely new chapter: He hit a home run off San Diego Padres starter James Shields.

The sports world exploded. Fans couldn’t believe the man also known as Big Sexy, a pitcher who’d played most of his career in the American League, with a 5-foot-11, 285-pound stature, whose at-bats were mostly known for his helmet popping off during swings, hit a dinger in a stadium with a reputation for being stingy.

But those inside the game weren’t as surprised — they knew he had the potential. 

With the three-month anniversary of Colon’s home run approaching, here’s a look back from current and former coaches, teammates and others who witnessed the miracle.

(Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images)

Bartolo Colon, Mets pitcher (through an interpreter, via ESPN): The three years that I’ve been here, I was chasing one. Even back in my Montreal days. But I wasn’t expecting something like this to happen. … My heart was beating a lot. And today’s a day I’m never going to forget.

Matt Herges, ex-Montreal Expos pitcher: Anytime a pitcher hit, the pitchers would be there watching, just joking around. Nobody expects anything good, so if you strike out, you’re supposed to strike out. If you get a hit, it’s a celebration. He’s not a fish out of water, he’s a good athlete. I remember saying, “Wow, he actually doesn’t look too bad up there.”

Kevin Long, Mets hitting coach: He’s worked hard for two years. He wants to hit and wants to work at it. Before he got here, the big knock was, “You’re not going to get Bartolo out there, he doesn’t like to hit.” So we started hitting with him. [Assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler] took him and just did solo stuff and just got him comfortable hitting.

Jerry Blevins, Mets relief pitcher: He’s super athletic and he hits home runs all the time. We had BP yesterday and he hit two or three out. So he’s got power, he’s a strong guy. He works on it during the season. You’ve got to get bunts down, you’ve got to get guys over. He understands that’s a part of the game.

Travis d’Arnaud, Mets catcher: In batting practice, every time he hits it and he knows it’s out, he laughs when he hits the ball, so it’s really fun to see. Ever since he’s been here, he works really hard at hitting, not only that, but bunting as well.

Herges: When I saw it, I said, “That’s his first one?” I couldn’t believe it. He is definitely a good enough athlete to do that.

Long: Now he’ll ask all the time, “When are we hitting next, when are we hitting next?” The more swings he got, the more comfortable he got, the more confidence he was able to gain. Hitting a home run is icing on the cake.

Tim Teufel, Mets third base coach: I knew he had potential, because he can leave the yard in BP. It translated into fastball, inner half and he took care of it.

May 7, 2016: Bartolo Colon hits his first career MLB home run. pic.twitter.com/B6snjDZelm

— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) May 7, 2021

Noah Syndergaard, Mets starting pitcher: I wasn’t paying attention, I was mid-conversation with somebody in the dugout. I heard the crack of the bat, and it sounded like a cannon going off.

Teufel: It was a very loud sound. He got out in front, took it down the line, just an all-or-nothing swing and he got all of it.

Syndergaard: You look up to see the ball flying, you see it land. The reaction on everyone’s faces was like they’d seen Bigfoot or something.

Curtis Granderson, Mets outfielder: I was on deck. I didn’t get a chance to do anything else because I had to be on deck. I wish I could have been in the dugout to greet him.

Blevins: [Pitcher] Logan Verrett and I were in the bullpen and, as soon as it got hit, this how I describe it: It was the moment when two grown men were jumping, holding each other in pure joy.

d’Arnaud: I just wish so bad I was there to see it. I was rehabbing an injury in Florida. I was watching on TV and was jumping up and down, too.

Howie Rose, play-by-play broadcaster for 710 WOR: I saw Bartolo carry the bat until he was probably two-thirds of the way to first base. Then I’m watching him run around the bases and I’m thinking, “I’ve never seen a slower home run trot and I don’t think he’s Cadillac-ing it, this is just him.”

According to Tater Trot Tracker, it took Colon 30.58 seconds to round the bases, the 12th-slowest home run trot since 2010.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Michael Conforto, Mets outfielder: Someone, I don’t remember who it was, said, “Everybody get down!” I think it was Neil Walker. We decided to do the old empty dugout to him.

Long: It was like a walk-off homer in the seventh game of the World Series. People were going crazy. What a great human being, a great teammate, and for something that magical to happen? It was a a lot of excitement. Somebody said, “Everybody out!”

Conforto: In the tunnel, we were laughing, talking about it, just waiting. We were definitely like, “Where is he, what’s taking him so long?”

Long: If we had champagne, we would have uncorked a bottle and sprayed each other. Everybody was in a frenzy.

Rose: When it hit me Colon would walk into an empty dugout, the back of my mind kicked up one of Vin Scully’s greatest-ever calls. In part of ninth inning of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game, he says something like, “He’s got to be the loneliest man in the world right now standing out there on the pitcher’s mound.” And somehow as I started to talk about Colon being the loneliest guy in the world, I thought, “Oh, Vin said something like that.”

SNY play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen actually said, “The impossible has happened,” which also was part of Scully’s call of Kirk Gibson’s miraculous home run in the 1988 World Series. How fitting that Rose and Cohen happened to pay tribute to Scully in his final year on the air.

Rose:  It’s funny, I said that to Gary after I heard both calls. “Do you realize we both channeled Vin?” We were in San Diego during the first leg of a roadtrip where both of us were going to spend some extended time interviewing Vin, which to me is as big a thrill as I’ve ever had in baseball. Vin was very much on my mind and maybe on Gary’s as well.

After pulling the prank on Colon, players leaped out from the tunnel and some mobbed their beloved pitcher. The celebration continued after the Mets walked away with a 6-3 victory.

Conforto: We give out a player-of-the-game belt, so I’m pretty sure he got it that day. There definitely wasn’t any champagne popping, it’s just another one of the 162 games.

Long: He got the belt. It’s a wrestling belt. I think someone took his bat and [Mets COO] Jeff Wilpon did something special for him. It’s a pretty neat piece.

The Mets confirmed to For The Win that Wilpon turned the bat into something akin to the Silver Slugger award and presented it to Colon.

Granderson: You can’t say it was improbable, he hits home runs in BP. It’s a matter of him finally connecting on one. He’s hit a couple of doubles too. I think those are even as exciting because he hits them so far and barely makes it to second, but he makes it without having to slide. That’s always interesting to me if he had to slide on a play, which he hasn’t had to do yet.

Long: I’d like to see him do one more thing: Walk. He’s hit the home run. He knows, he had a 3-2 count the other day and swung at a fastball up that would have been a walk. Next time he gets to that count, he’s going to hold the bat on his shoulders.

Granderson: From what I’ve heard, he’s an even better left-handed hitter, but he chooses not to [hit lefty] because he doesn’t want to get hit in his throwing arm accidentally.

(Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports)

Blevins: It was one of the best moments of the year so far. He’s a funny guy, he commands the room.

Granderson: I know a lot of people were talking about it the year before, about the over/under on number of hits he can get, a lot about his helmet falling off. It looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but he does. He’s not worried about the size of his helmet, he’s up there trying to get a hit. He’s swinging hard.

d’Arnaud: The big thing I’ve learned from him is: Things happen, and just forget about it. Like when I see him give up a hit or someone happens to bring a run in, he just forgets about it and moves on to the next thing, which I think is huge in this sport.

Herges: He’s friendly to everybody, he can laugh at himself, he’s a great guy to have around. What I appreciated about him is you couldn’t tell if he was throwing a no-hitter or if he had given up seven runs in three innings. Just his demeanor was really cool to watch. Not too high, never too low, just even keel. Being a pitching coach now [for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers], that’s what I try to impress on my pitchers. He’s a pro in every sense of the word.

Conforto: He’s up there, doing what he can to win the game. He wants to help himself out and the team. You have to recognize he’s doing his job. I think he can definitely do it again.