Home Run Derby: Fun, But Flawed

In the final round, the contestants, in this case, Hamilton and Morneau, each get nine outs total. The way the final showdown would take place is the first round leader, the player that received the bye, is the home team. So Justin Morneau bats in the top of the frame and is allowed to hit as many home runs as he can achieve with three outs.

Then Hamilton gets to bat in the home half of the bottom of the inning. You play three innings and the player with the most home runs is your champion.  

Which way is more dramatic?

Josh Hamilton coming to the plate with 10 outs and the task of hitting five home runs, or Josh Hamilton coming up the plate in the final inning down by two with two outs? The answer is obvious.   

But alas, styling the derby like a game seems too logical to ever be done by Major League Baseball. 

But, even with that new system in place, your work is not done yet, Bud. To really make the derby more enjoyable, it would be a very good idea to have an online fan vote to elect one player that did not make the All-Star team to hit in the derby.

This year, we could have seen Ryan Howard or Jason Giambi battle it out for the final spot in the Home Run Derby in an online poll going on concurrently with the final-man voting.  

What no one wants the Home Run Derby to become is the NBA Slam Dunk competition, where no names and wash ups try to do things that have been done before and pass them off as original and remarkable. If you could find a group of Dwight Howards, Michael Jordans, Spud Webbs, and Dominique Wilkins, you would have a pretty good dunk contest.

Instead, you have Jamario Moon and Gerald Green stinking up the court, while Howard keeps the entire event afloat. This should be a strong model of what not to do when it comes to an All-Star Game event.  

Now, the idea of having All-Stars only in the HRD is honorable. It keeps the event legitimate and all the players are recognizable to a good baseball fan. And while it might be blasphemous to have a non All-Star member in the derby, merely consider the player a designated slugger All-Star spot.

If you call it that, everyone is an All-Star on the team. I also doubt that anyone would put a player like Jose Vidro on the exclusive ballot to begin with. You also guarantee, with the online voting, that you will have one of the finest and most recognizable sluggers in the game performing in the Derby.  

So Bud Selig, I hope you take some of the ideas of the fans and at least test them out with the players. If you were watching tonight, you would have seen that most of the players are just fans themselves when it comes to the Derby. And while the Derby is a great event, with a bit of tweaking and a smidgen of common sense, it could be an elite event.

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