Colorado Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog Plays Baseball

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog represented the team at the UC Health Healthy Swings Charity Home Run Derby.

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has already had a busy offseason. He’s been healing from whatever injury kept him out of IIHF Worlds. Presumably he’s been training. He’s been planning his wedding, which according to Tyson Jost takes place next month.

And he found time for some baseball.

UC Health, which sponsors the Avalanche, held its Healthy Swings Charity Home Run Derby on May 11. The home run derby was part of an awareness campaign for Stroke Awareness Month, which was May.

Current and retired players took part in the event. For the Avalanche, Gabriel Landeskog represented, as did retired players Rick Berry and John-Michael Liles.

Naturally, Landeskog kept things pretty light-hearted, as the event was meant to be. Altitude TV’s Lauren Gardner asked him if he trained for the event. He laughed and admitted, “No.” When she asked if he even took a practice swing, he insisted, “No!”

Perhaps that’s why Jost was unimpressed by Landeskog’s swinging ability:

Of course, our captain had a quick retort:

Ouch, Gabe, Josty has a family.

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Anyway, Landeskog did seem to have some trouble figuring out how to hit the baseball — remember, being Swedish, he didn’t exactly grow up playing baseball. What threw Gabe for a loop was whether he should hit right-handed or left handed. As he pointed out, he shoots left-handed. But he golfs right-handed.

Ultimately, he decided to hit right-handed. Side note, he also had a hard time getting the helmet on his head — he’s renowned for having a large head. (The thick hair probably doesn’t help.)

Props to Landeskog, he hit the ball — he certainly has the hand-eye coordination. Unfortunately, he hit the ball right to outfielders or out of play — and once at a poor camera woman who was just trying to adjust her camera.

Gabriel Landeskog, our captain, is an ultimate ambassador. And though he didn’t have to run around the bases, he claimed he got a good workout and stated, “A lot of respect for what these guys do out there.”

I’m sure he meant it. However, there’s a reason they never do crossovers into hockey. Even if a, say, baseball or basketball player has the hand-eye coordination to hit the puck with a stick, it’s highly doubtful he could do so while skating.

At the end, Gabriel Landeskog put on his ambassador hat (which his sized perfectly for his big noggin) and talked a little bit about what the event was all about:

"“I think everybody that’s here today, we all care about the Denver community. This is a fun event, and a lot of fun to be a part of. “"

In addition to Avs players, the following teams were represented:

Denver Broncos: Ronald Leary, Brandon McManus, and Marquette King.

Denver Nuggets: Jamal Murray and Malik Beasley

Colorado Rockies: Clint Barmes (retired), Cory Sullivan (retired), Ryan Spilborghs(retired), and Vinny Castilla (retired).

Next: Landeskog a Beast in the Playoffs

Judge for yourself how Gabriel Landeskog fared swinging the baseball bat:

To be honest, watching him reminded me of those NHL15 commercials in which TJ Oshie pretended to represent different sports. In the tradition of those commercials ending in his scoring a goal in his real sport, let’s watch Landeskog do the same:

The UC Health Healthy Swings Charity Home Run Derby raised money for the National Stroke Association.