Home Run Derby: Fun, But Flawed

Josh Hamilton’s performance at Yankee Stadium on Monday will transcend the fact that he did not actually win the exhibition. In fact, a large group of baseball fans likely wouldn’t be able to tell you who won the Home Run Derby last night.

And while Justin Morneau will leave New York with the trophy, and Josh Hamilton will leave Yankee Stadium as a household name, there is one thing that Bud Selig and the baseball big wigs can leave the Bronx with this week—the home run derby is very flawed

While it’s an exhibition that counts for nothing, it can be so much better. Bud Selig, are you reading?

By tweaking the Home Run Derby, you can make it even more exciting than the current version. That means more advertising money for the league, as more people tune in.  

I think I have your attention now, Bud. 

Now I am going to need you to stay with me Bud, because the last time you tried to tweak the All-Star festivities, you made an exhibition game far too important for anyone to grasp. If you can pace yourself, and restrain from making the Home Run Derby the determining factor on who plays in the league championship series, I think we can do some good here.  

The first round is fine. Eight players, 10 outs. Dandy. Nothing wrong with that system in place right now. But, in the current system, it is feasible for players to stop hitting home runs when they have enough to advance to the next round.

There is no incentive to continue to hit, as it’s merely detrimental to the player hitting. So my proposal is such:  

The eight batters go through the first round in the same system that is in place currently, but in my second round, only three players can advance, and only two compete. The home run leader from the first round gets a bye to the finals, and the second and third place sluggers battle it out for the right to go head-to-head with the leader.  

If we were to use the 2008 HRD as an example, Justin Morneau and Lance Berkman would face each other in the second round for the right to battle the first-round leader, Josh Hamilton, in the finals.

I feel that a system that uses direct competition as much as possible, without making it a true tournament, makes the derby more exciting.  

The semifinal competition could be a shorter version of the new finals system, which I will explain later, or merely just a 10-out duplicate of the first round. Either way works, because the final round is all that really matters.  

So say that Morneau beats Berkman head-to-head, earning the right to battle Hamilton. There, the slate is wiped clean. (Some people are against clearing the board before the finals, but it really is the only way to inject drama into the derby. Under the current rules, it would be better to have the running total, as it would illicit just as much drama in most situations.)

But once the slate is wiped clean, the two sluggers play a Home Run Derby final game. And, while I am sure that the marketing geniuses could slap a catchy name and sponsor it 12 times, it isn’t the name that counts. It’s the concept.  

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