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Recorded only five of ten outs before hitting winning home run. Recorded only seven of ten outs before hitting winning home run. For the first time in Derby history, Shohei Ohtani became both the first pitcher and the first Japanese player to participate in 2021. In addition to the bling, the Home Run Derby champ gets a trophy and a $1 million prize. For some players, that cash prize may be the real draw to participate.
There was no Home Run Derby or All-Star Game during the shortened 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Alonso won the 2019 Home Run Derby at Progressive Field in Cleveland, narrowly edging out Blue Jays wunderkind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ESPN Classic ran the program in primetime in September and November 2009 after a 2-year hiatus, and still occasionally carried episodes in middays thereafter.
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For most of this year’s participants, the winner’s share would mark a major increase in their 2019 pay. Six of the eight players are earning $1 million or less in salary for the entire 2019 season. For rookies Alonso and Guerrero, a win would nearly double their yearly pay.
The winner received a check for $2,000 and was invited back for the next week's episode against a new opponent ; the runner-up received a check for $1,000. If a batter hit three home runs in a row, he would receive a $500 bonus check. A fourth home run in a row would be worth another $500 bonus check. Any consecutive home runs hit beyond that would each be worth $1,000. Each show would end with the host presenting each player with their prize checks , and would award separate checks for consecutive home run bonuses.
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Griffey became the first player to hit the B&O Warehouse across Eutaw Street from Camden Yards, but Gonzalez won the Derby, defeating Griffey in a sudden-death swing-off. The 1998 Derby marked the first live telecast of the event, as fans tuned in to see Griffey win his second trophy. Griffey almost didn't participate, but he was booed in batting practice the day prior and ultimately changed his mind. Pujols and the Yankees' Jason Giambi each lit up the scoreboard in the first two rounds, but Pujols was bested by Anderson, 9-8, in a dramatic final round in Chicago's South Side. Anderson later became the second player to win the Derby and be named Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game.
Separate from the regular home run derby, if the All-Star Game itself is tied after nine innings, a second home run derby will be held to determine the winner. It will not be timed, and each manager will pick three players to make three swings each to hit as many home runs as possible. Judge, who set a new rookie home run record in 2017 , easily bested Sano in the finals and crushed four home runs further than 500 feet. He became the fourth Yankees player to win the derby, giving the New York franchise more winners than any other club. This year marked the first live Derby broadcast that did not feature ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman. Fans had been begging for Harper to take part in the Derby since he first did in 2013, and the slugger did not disappoint in his first time back.
Home Run Derby Winners by Year
This year's competition shook up the rule book with players posting the highest totals across Rounds 1 and 2 advancing to the finals, rather than resetting the tally each round like in previous years. The story of the night heading into the 2022 Derby was Pete Alonso's quest for his third straight title. By the end, it was all about the two young superstars in Soto and Rodríguez. The two put on a show all night, but Soto walked it off in the final round with 19 home runs. He became the second-youngest winner in Derby history at 23 years, 266 days old -- just one day older than Juan González was when he won it in 1993.
On July 11, 1988, the day before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game from Cincinnati, TBS televised the annual All-Star Gala from the Cincinnati Zoo. Larry King hosted the broadcast with Craig Sager and Pete Van Wieren handling interviews. The broadcast's big draw would have been the Home Run Derby, which TBS intended on taping during the afternoon, and later airing it in prime time during the Gala coverage.
In the 2007 event, fifteen golden balls were hit for a donation of $255,000, and ten ($170,000) were hit in the 2008 event. For 2009, State Farm added $5,000 for all non-Gold Ball homers, and $517,000 was collected. For 2010, the non-Gold Ball homer was reduced to $3,000 per home run and a total of $453,000 was collected. Since 2014 any homer hit off a T-Mobile Ball resulted in a $10,000 donation to charity by T-Mobile and MLB, to Team Rubicon. The winner of the 2022 Home Run Derby is set for a major pay day. Prior to the 2019 season, MLB and the MLB Players Association agreed to raise the prize pool for the derby from $725,000 to a whopping $2.5 million.
In 2021, the time limit was changed to three minutes plus a bonus of thirty seconds, with an additional thirty seconds of bonus time added if a player hit a home run over 475 feet during regulation. In case of a tie, the contestants get one additional minute. If there still is a tie, each contestant gets three swings, and repeats on ties thereafter. Scott took him up on it, speaking into the microphone sotto voce, similar to a bowling or golf announcer, whenever Mays stepped up to the plate. Some players wore golf gloves during the show—a notable addition because the batting glove was still years away from being a normal part of a player's gear. Alonso edged out Guerrero in a thrilling final-round battle of rookie phenoms.
Lamar Jackson OUT for Week 16 vs. Falcons Jackson continues to miss practice with his knee injury. The field has been determined, and MLB is using its typical bracketed system for the derby. No. 1 Kyle Scwarber will take on No. 8 Albert Pujols in the first round.
MLB's All-Star Weekend festivities continue on Monday with the 2022 Home Run Derby. Baseball fans are amped up to watch the sport's best sluggers duke it out for the title and a hefty cash prize. Dave Parker won the first Home Run Derby in 1985, and since then many of the winners have been the biggest stars in baseball. Griffey remains the only player in MLB history to win three Home Run Derbies.
"I have always said if they want guys doing these things, you've got to have some incentives for the guys," Rangers outfielder Joey Gallo said. "The NBA started doing , when you win the All-Star Game, the guys on those teams get paid. Now it's more competitive; guys actually want to play. It's a really good idea for MLB to do that." This year, when baseball's biggest sluggers put their light-tower power on display at the Home Run Derby, there's going to be a million dollars on the line.
For the derby, an out is defined as any swing that is not a home run. The winner of the contest was the player with the most total home runs in the two innings. In 2017, Aaron Judge's mammoth blasts carried him to a Derby win in his sensational rookie season. The year before that, fellow giant Giancarlo Stanton crushed the field with an overwhelming power display in San Diego. And in 2015, Todd Frazier won it all in front of his hometown Reds fans at Great American Ball Park. Starting this year, there will also be more bonuses tied to the All-Star Game itself.
The winner’s share represents just a portion of the overall Home Run Derby prize pool, which rose to $2.5 million this year. Last year’s event featured a $125,000 winner’s share and a $525,000 total prize pool. The four-minute round length was made permanent in 2016, while the minute of bonus time was reduced to 30 seconds and required two home runs of at least 440 feet (134.1 m). Each batter is allowed one time-out during each round, and two in the finals. Weather concerns in 2015 led to a reduction in time from five minutes per round to four minutes.
