I’m not going to lie: I actually like the Home Run Derby.
The NBA Dunk Contest can go up in flames for all I care, but if the Home Run Derby ever ceases to exist, Major League Baseball will get a strongly worded letter from me (with or without letters cut out from magazines, I haven’t decided). Yes, yours truly would actually spend the time to write a physical letter and not send an email.
Like everything else in my life, things I truly enjoy come down to nostalgia. Believe it or not, the Home Run Derby tickles my memory chords just like the Boston Red Sox.
I make sure to watch the Home Run Derby every year. I can’t remember the first one I ever saw but the last one was Monday night when Todd Frazier won in Cincy.
But, Tyler, what happened during those nine summers when you were at summer camp? Good question. After all, the Home Run Derby often falls around the same time every summer (second Monday in July) and that would have been right at the start of the third week of the first session at William Lawrence Camp. My parents were awesome and taped the Home Run Derby — as well as the All-Star Game — every summer so I could watch it when I got home. To be perfectly honest, when I got home, I went right to those tapes every single time. I’m a creature of habit.
Other than the nostalgia, I love the Home Run Derby because I’m a baseball fan, first and foremost. My favorite sports memories as a fan were often at a ballpark.
Secondly, who doesn’t like seeing professional ball players crush mammoth home runs that many of us could only dream about hitting. Plus, most of those home runs either come close to going out of the stadium or carom off something fun.
When I talked to my buddy Todd tonight, he reminded me that next year’s All-Star Game will be held at Petco Park. That got me giddy thinking of what could happen during the Home Run Derby. The warehouse is just beckoning for it to be pelted.
Take a look at what the Long Haul Bombers did at Petco Park. Oh, boy!