Josh Hamilton's Legendary Performance Saved The Home Run Derby
Published July 15, 2008
For baseball, this year’s Home Run Derby, part of the All-Star game event package, gave indications of a dull event. The names of Lance Bergman, Chase Utley, Josh Hamilton, Justin Morneau, Ryan Braun, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, and Evan Longoria, could never be mistaken for “Murderers Row.” The MLB genius that selected this years participants forgot the event usually showcases some of the game's biggest names. Fortunately, true baseball fans will watch anything baseball.
After all, this year’s All-Star events are a going away celebration for "The House that Ruth Built." With all the nostalgia and hoopla surrounding the three day extravaganza, one would have expected everything to be star-studded. I am not taking anything away from the participants, but it would have been nice to include a few marquee names. From a marketing standpoint, the odds were against much of a show.
Thank God for Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers. In the first round he displayed the greatest individual effort in the history of Home Run Derby. Hamilton hit 28 homers in the first round. It was incredible, especially since the guy was banned from professional baseball for three years because of an alcohol and drug addiction. After getting his life together, this former number one pick was allowed back in the game with the Cincinnati Reds. He was traded this past off-season to the Texas Rangers and is having an unbelievable year. Coming into the All-Star break, Hamilton is hitting .310 with 21 homers and 95 RBIs. But his exhibition in the Home Run Derby was of legendary proportions. Very befitting for a historic ballpark.
I have some advice for Bud Selig and MLB: do not let this event go into the tank like the NBA did with the Slam Dunk Contest. In fairness, the NBA redeemed itself with Dwight Howard’s dunk performance in this past season’s all-star game. Big named stars should always be in the mix for the home run contest. Something else noticeable: there were no minorities or foreigners among the contestants. To showcase the sport, baseball needs to take advantage of every opportunity to promote the international and cultural popularity of the sport.
Josh Hamilton is now a part of All-Star and Yankee Stadium history. Everyone will forget that Josh physically exhausted himself in the qualifying rounds and lost to Justin Morneau in the finals. Fans will only remember the Home Run Derby legend of Josh Hamilton and those 28 home runs. It was fun to watch.
- Josh Hamilton's Legendary Performance Saved The Home Run Derby
- Published: July 15, 2008
- Type: News
- Section: Sports
- Filed Under: Sports: Baseball, Culture: Celebrity
- Writer: Radio Coach Sam Weaver
- Radio Coach Sam Weaver's BC Writer page
- Radio Coach Sam Weaver's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Cheezy, You are truly a baseball sage. Your wisdom is inspirational. I hope you can overlook my lack of baseball astuteness. It was pretty idiotic of me to think baseball was negligent in the formulation of the participants in the Home Run Derby. Of course, this is the same sport that had no knowledge of steroids in the sport. The average fan knows names and not statistical leaders. I bet that next year's Derby will look like the United Nations.
"Something else noticeable: there were no minorities or foreigners among the contestants."
except the guy who won the damn thing is a fuckin canuck.
damn canadia!
god bless the minnesota twins, however.
Zing Zing, You are right, I forgot he's Canadian. Caribou of North America do count. Morneau is a solid player. He was gracious in winning and pointing out it was Hamilton's moment. A real class act.
that was an amazing performance. anybody who can hit like that has what it takes to be great. I'm glad he could come back from his addictions.
Hamilton is amazing and so was the game last night. For a low scoring game, there was a lot of action. There were sure enough defensive plays and great pitching for the highlight reels.
Wish I could have seen the end of this game or the home run derby...unfortunately, I get up way to early in the morning and they start these games way to late. What ever happened to the days of the 6 or 7PM start time for a baseball game? Does everything in this country have to revolve around the left coast?
"Lance Bergman"?
Not quite.
Jimmy Jam, I agree with you, however, the rating for the Derby were high. Of course that might have been due to the promotional efforts of ESPN. It surely was not based on the name recognition of the contest participants.
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MLB *did* ask some of the more "marquee" names. But either they turned down the chance to participate or simply weren't even on the All-Star teams. So then they had to ask someone to do it. Who better to choose/ask than some of the league's actual HOME RUN LEADERS? Which were what most of those guys last night were.
Also, there was a minority in the field last night. Grady Sizemore is biracial. Granted, that's still not very much, but it would do some good to do a little research, both yourself and that idiot on ESPN last night.