WASHINGTON — The Major League Baseball Home Run Derby is, essentially, batting practice. It’s an odd exhibition of a very particular skill, watching some of the foremost sluggers in the game see how far they can hit baseballs specifically fed to them for the purpose of being hit very far. For many reasons, this author is not personally a huge fan.
And yet, despite its general meaninglessness, the Home Run Derby has a strange proclivity for producing dramatic moments. After getting its start in Minneapolis in 1985, it has become a staple of All-Star Week. Here are the most memorable moments from the event’s history.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
2015 – Todd Frazier
MLB knew it needed to freshen up the format a bit, so it took a risk with timed rounds. And it worked, probably better than they could have imagined. Not only did the sense of urgency add drama where it had previously lacked, but hometown hero Todd Frazier went on a late tear to win the whole thing at the buzzer.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
1991 – Cal Ripken Jr.
Ripken, not particularly renowned for his power, blasted 12 homers at Skydome in Toronto to best the field, then homered again the next night in the actual All-Star Game to earn MVP honors, which he would win again 10 years later.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
2013 – Yoenis Cespedes
In the first of his back-to-back Home Run Derby titles, Cespedes became the first player not already heading to the All-Star Game to win by beating Bryce Harper. His monstrous home runs looked right at home at New York’s Citi Field, where, of course, he now plays his home games.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
1996 – Mark McGwire/Barry Bonds
This might have been the beginning of the Home Run Derby’s prominence, serving as a signal call for what would become the home run era. So it’s only fitting that it featured the two men who would shatter, then once again break the single-season home run record in the years to come. McGwire would put on a great display of his own a few years later, but this was the only dual between him and Bonds, which the latter won.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
2008 – Josh Hamilton
Most people who remember Hamilton’s prodigious display, in which he hit 28 home runs in a single round of the derby, probably have forgotten that he didn’t actually win the thing. It just goes to show the nature of the event, which is remembered far more for its individual moments than for its winners and losers. The best single moment? When Hamilton hit 13 straight pitches thrown to him into the New York night.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
