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Prince crowned King of the Home Run Derby

Ian Hunter , , , , ,
Image courtesy of Daylife

I’m sure that somewhere in St. Louis right now, Prince Fielder is celebrating his Home Run Derby win with a scrumptious veggie burger or soy dog. The Brewers slugger was very impressive through all three rounds of the 2009 Home Run Derby hitting 23 total dingers and all it took was six home runs in the final round to win it.

Hometown favourite Albert Pujols managed to get into the second round by the skin of his teeth winning a “swing-off” against Carlos Pena and Joe Mauer. Brandon Inge picked up the “thanks for coming out” award after failing to hit a single home run. I don’t think he’ll be remembered for being the worst participant in the derby; that honour belongs to Troy Glaus who hit one home run in 2001 Home Run Derby and just one dinger back in 2006.

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As usual, the social commentary from Chris Berman and Joe Morgan made me want to toss my television out the window. The “back, back, back, back” catchphrase never gets old Chris, I hope you have the opportunity to milk that thing for at least another ten years. Those are three hours of commentating that I wish I could get back back back back.

And what was with ESPN’s Ball Tracker? It looked like somewhere between a Comet Ball and a flying neon sperm. It was probably one of the most useless features that’s been introduced to a baseball broadcast in the last 15 years. The Ball Tracker was about as useful as the FoxTrax Glow Puck. If you can’t see where the ball or the puck is going then you shouldn’t even be watching the game.

All in all, it wasn’t as flashy as last year’s Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium but it was still fun to watch. Now if they could only cut down the running time to about 90 minutes then it would be perfect.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.

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8 thoughts on “Prince crowned King of the Home Run Derby”

  • hello
    July 14, 2009 at 4:29 am
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    "Back back back" is easily the worst and most annoying home run call in the history of baseball broadcasting. I'll even take Hawk Harrelson over that.

  • Ian H.
    July 14, 2009 at 4:35 am
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    It's even more annoying than Jamie Campbell's "you can kiss that one goodbye" … which is actually not all that bad.

    Chris Berman needs to dump that phrase from his vocabulary or ESPN needs to dump him from the Home Run Derby broadcast.

  • eyebleaf
    July 14, 2009 at 5:44 am
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    BACK BACK BACK BACK!!!!1

    I barely tuned in this year. Just wasn't really interested. Caught the final. Prince Fielder is the fattest, and best home run hitting, vegetarian, ever.

  • Ian H.
    July 14, 2009 at 2:09 pm
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    EyeB,it's actually almost better that way, then you don't have to sit through almost 2 hours of commercials just to get to the final.

  • Ian H.
    July 15, 2009 at 12:36 pm
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    I think you've got a #1 hit on your hands with that song …

  • Ian H.
    July 15, 2009 at 7:08 pm
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    Our disdain for Chris Berman has built a bridge uniting Padres and Blue Jays fans! Mission accomplished.

Comments are closed.