Cincinnati's Jonny Gomes(notes) hasn't had the greatest baseball career, but he's always been very good at two things — swinging for the fences and being a standup guy who respects the game.

On Wednesday night, both of those attributes came together as the former Rayhawk promised to hit a home run for retiring Dayton Daily News beat writer Hal McCoy on his special night. Sure enough, Gomes went deep in the top of the second for his 20th homer of the season and a special memory for McCoy.

By Thursday afternoon, Gomes had signed, sealed and delivered the bat to McCoy as a small tribute to the writer's 37-year Hall of Fame career. 

From CNati.com:

"This is just my first go-around here, but I'm big on two things that I always bring to the ballpark: first is respect the game and second is hustle," Gomes said. "I've always had a good relationship with the media. I figure if you do those two things, it's hard to get bagged on. I think some guys bring it upon themselves. If you respect the game and hustle, everyone looks at you in a positive way."

All in all, a pretty cool story all around and one that speaks to 1) Gomes' respect for others, even a writer that he's only been around for one season and 2) the respect that McCoy has earned from those that he has covered for so long. 

Here's McCoy's take on Gomes' gift. It turns out that the last time a player gave him a postgame gift, it wasn't as nearly sincere.