Home Run Derby Time
The Home Run Derby passed its prime a long time ago and needs a complete make over. The first and best way to improve it would be to get rid of Chris Berman. His bombastic calls have got to go. He calls each one like it’s an actual home run in a real game and the “back, back, back, bullshit” is beyond played out. Have some hottie in a bikini who knows nothing about baseball call the Derby. Or have nobody call it. We all know what a home run looks like.
Secondly, it goes on way too long. I’d make it one round of 30 swings.
The only thing I’d keep is the little leaguers shagging in the outfield. That’s pretty cool and something they’ll remember their entire lives.
Since it’s unlikely that the HR Derby rules committee will heed my recommendations by the start of tonight’s contest, we can entertain ourselves by trying to pick the winner of this thing. Bragging rights only. Here’s a list of the competitors, you get one guess. Put it in the thread below. First answer is your final answer.
Bautista, Cespedes, Donaldson, Dozier, Adam Jones, Frazier, Morneau, Puig, Stanton, Tulo.
________________________________
This is like a scene out of Schindler’s List:
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Cespedes
Frazier
Ali.
Stanton
Bautista.
Castro/Che
Bautista
Another great example of every day in baseball is different, the Brewers replacement call up at SS for Segura, Elian Herrera, goes 5 for 5 in his second day up vs. Cards in important 11-2 W for reeling Mil. This time next week he’s likely back to riding buses in Nashville for AAA.
Can’t handle HR/AS, so likely no baseball til weekend. Good time to stock up on good reads…such as Stories of Jane Gardam, brit authoress famous for trilogy novels Old Filth (acronym for failed in London tried hong kong) and latest from WWII spy/resistance writer Alan Furst, this one centered around Spanish Civil War republican efforts to procure arms vs. Nazi empowered Falangists of Franco.
Good to hear from Edd…whatever happened to Ed Goodson guy?
I may be dreaming this, but in the fifties there’s used to be a show called Brains & Brawn. I recall it as a strange hybrid of home run derby and college bowl. Bring it back.
I like the hotties in bikinis idea. Obviously they would have to be eating hot dogs between rounds.
gulp
I third the call for bikini babes, and love the hot dog idea, Dirt. LMAO…good one. Hey sweetheart…is that some mustard on your chin or are you just happy to see me?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brains_%26_Brawn
And I’d bet money that one Saturday night the brawn was Mays vs. Mantle. Trying to swat homers. Really. Awesome.
What I loved about the Home Run Derby was the guys hanging with the announcer between at bats.
Here ya go Pawlie, Mays vs Mantle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpp9aLTi9PU
That was awesome, except for Mantle winning the derby. Thanks for sharing, Clown.
Just went back and caught up on the past couple of threads. I did get a chance to post a bit yesterday.
Regarding the Dravecky game, I was there, too. So I believe that makes five Flappers who were in attendance.
WillieD, Blade, and others. Thank you for the sanity check re: this team. I too get very tired of the negativity. One out at the break (which is one of the later breaks in some time)…I’ll take it. And as others have said, any Flapper worth his (or her) salt would do the same if told this is where the Orange and Black would be at the break.
I am with Blade re: Zobrist. I posted the story where it was discussed that the Rays were scouting the Flying Squirrels. And I think the Giants can swing that deal without a big named prospect like Crick.
I like the flexibility of Zobrist (plays IF and OF). He would be a nice addition, and might just be “Blockbuster II.”
Enjoy the break Flappers. Craig and Paul – anything concrete on a mini Flapalooza at a local watering hole? Very cool picts on FB of your family Paul. Enjoy the time with them back East.
GO GIANTS!
Twin – also saw your comment about the day you had your seizure. I remember that day well, and it was so cool that Craig and Tom stepped-up in that moment. It is good seeing you here, and hope to see more of you post-break. Hope all is good for you and Merna.
Bumgarner is my 2nd choice.
Ruth…
About replacing Chris Berman, I might watch the thing if it was two drunk fans calling it. I think that could be entertaining.
haha, fantastic idea. They could chug between rounds. See who’s still able to sit at the end. Winner gets…something. Another beer?
Yeah dirt, I was thinking it might need to be on HBO or Showtime for the complete entertainment value.
Matt Cain drops to 5 th starter after the break..
Rotation
Snot Rocket
Hudson
Lincecum
Vogs
Cain
Facts are facts…
I picked Stanton in MLB’s Derby Bracket Challenge, but I’ll go with Jersey’s Todd Frazier here. Is that allowed?
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2014/home_run_derby/challenge/
All sound ideas for improving the HR Derby, especially going on way too long. It’s ridiculous how such a contrived non-event that shouldn’t take more than an hour is dragged out over 3 hours.
Commercials…
Heard that last night, AK. Interesting to say the least. ‘Giving Cain more rest’ is what I heard. Sounds like BBS to me.
I think they should put bikini babes in the OF shagging . . . flies.
Berman? Done-zo to death-o. If I do happen to watch it, the sound will be off.
I think Puig wins, and pulls his oblique on the last swing, thus hitting the DL for a month. That’s what I hope, anyway.
BTW, went to the Stick Saturday night with my son. Pretty cool to see all those guys together. Marino threw a ball over 50 yards in the air to score a TD. Rice caught a couple deep balls. One from Joe and one from Steve. Montana threw the game winning TD to Eddie D with 0:04 seconds left. Pretty awesome to see some of the players pick him up and carry him around the field.
The play before that was Young taking the snap, throwing a backward pass to Joe, and him throwing a 20 yard pass to Jeff Garcia to set up the final TD. Fun stuff.
when are you gonna post the pics from that day on your blog? looking forward to it
Well, I’m having problems finding things. Can’t find any of my thumb drives. Once I do I can transfer pics. FB is a pain, but I might post some there. Haven’t even looked through them yet.
I was there too with my son Chuck!! cool there was no ushers to tell you were you could sit!! we sat in the end zone where the player tunnel is. did you see the fight, about 6 drunks got hauled off by security/police. dumb asses!!
I second the bikini babes shaggin balls Chuck!!
Along with a few bikini babeson the Juggs gun behind home plate😃
NL LU just came out:
McCutchen
Puig
Tulo
Goldshit
Stanton
Ramirez
Utley
Lucroy
Gomez
Man those 1st five guys are pretty unbelievable.
In keeping with the bikini babe theme that you all are promoting, I nominate the gold ball to be pitched by a bikini hottie. If the player can hit that out, it’s worth 2 or 3 bombs. Like?
I don’t think it’s “being negative” to have major concerns about what’s been going on with the Giants the last 35 days. Nobody wants to see a repeat of 2013, that’s all.
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HR derby was never interesting to me, except for the time Vlad was hitting them out of AT&T, and we could all fantasize what might have been had the Giants acquired him as a free agent before the 2004 season.
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Book-wise, I’ve been reading Edward Rutherfurd’s historical novel about Paris, entitled surprisingly: “Paris.”
Rutherfurd gives a brilliant blend of history, and characters the reader cares about, mixing fictional and real characters. The books are very long; they take a big time commitment. “Paris” is about 800 pages long.
Rutherfurd’s published 8 novels in about 25 years. “Paris” is the third of his books I’ve read. I read his book about Southern England called “Sarum,” and his book “New York,” a very captivating look at that city over the past 400 years or so.
I’m a big fan of big sprawling historical novels. Ken Follett will be publishing the third book in his “Fall of Giants” series about Europe over the past 100 years, this Fall.
I’ve gotten into reading Bernard Cornwell’s “Sharpe” series, about a British soldier during the late 1700s in India, and the early 1800s in the wars against Napoleon. Cornwell has a highly regarded medieval series that I want to get to eventually, too.
Baseball book-wise, I have several I want to get to; there’s a lot of cool books out there. There’s a new book coming out, or might be out already, about the 1954 season. That would be fun to read.
Zumiee – agree that it is completely legit to complain of a extended slump. But I think the negativity in some cases is just a bit over the top (just my opinion). When you look at the entire body of work, the Giants are in decent shape. Seriously, if you asked any Flapper at the beginning of the year if he or she would be happy to be one game out at the break, I think all would be absolutely happy with that.
It’s a long season and there is still a lot of ball to play. I think it goes down to the wire between our boys and the bums.
Agree, zum.
It’s more than appropriate for fans to seriously question a good team’s players and management that’s lost 22 of the last 32 or thereabouts, thereby blowing the supposed advantage of the most favorable home schedule of the season…
“1954,” by Bill Madden was published in May. Here’s a blurb about it. Sounds very cool. I don’t know how good a writer Madden is. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember reading anything by him.
“1954: Perhaps no single baseball season has so profoundly changed the game forever. In that year—the same in which the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education, that segregation of the races be outlawed in America’s public schools—Larry Doby’s Indians won an American League record 111 games, dethroned the five-straight World Series champion Yankees, and went on to play Willie Mays’s Giants in the first World Series that featured players of color on both teams.
Seven years after Jackie Robinson had broken the baseball color line, 1954 was a triumphant watershed season for black players—and, in a larger sense, for baseball and the country as a whole. While Doby was the dominant player in the American League, Mays emerged as the preeminent player in the National League, with a flair and boyish innocence that all fans, black and white, quickly came to embrace. Mays was almost instantly beloved in 1954, much of that due to how seemingly easy it was for him to live up to the effusive buildup from his Giants manager, Leo Durocher, a man more widely known for his ferocious “nice guys finish last” attitude.
Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Bill Madden delivers the first major book to fully examine the 1954 baseball season, drawn largely from exclusive recent interviews with the major players themselves, including Mays and Doby as well as New York baseball legends from that era: Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford of the Yankees, Monte Irvin of the Giants, and Carl Erskine of the Dodgers. 1954 transports readers across the baseball landscape of the time—from the spring training camps in Florida and Arizona to baseball cities including New York, Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland—as future superstars such as Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and others entered the leagues and continued to integrate the sport.
Weaving together the narrative of one of baseball’s greatest seasons with the racially charged events of that year, 1954 demonstrates how our national pastime—with the notable exception of the Yankees, who represented “white supremacy” in the game—was actually ahead of the curve in terms of the acceptance of black Americans, while the nation at large continued to struggle with tolerance.”
It’s “chalk” but I go with Stanton. The Derby makes me think of Killebrew.I know I’m biased and Harmon wasn’t the ballplayer that many of that era were but I don’t think any HR hitter of the 50’s and 60’s more epitomized what we think of as the pure slugger. Harmon was the first (the only?) to hit a ball over Tiger Stadium’s left field roof. The roof was 10 stories high.
“The Killer” was an apt nickname if you think Mother Teresa’s should have been “The Terminator”. Killebrew was as gentle a man as you’d ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Here’s Mudcat Grant with “What a Wonderful World” at the Harmon Killebrew Memorial ..Mudcat did a great rendition with Ric Oliva accompanying him on guitar. Perhaps the most poignant moment came when Jim rose from his chair after the song and gingerly hobbled off the field with his cane supporting him. Mudcat will be 80 next year.
At his induction into the HOF in 1984, Harmon recalled a great comment from his Dad. When he was a boy, his Mom would complain about the grass being trampled and pockmarked from the kids playing some ball. His Pop said “We’re not raising grass, we’re raising boys..” I’ll presume that he said it gently…
Not sure I watch the derby, but if I do, it will be with the sound down.
My pick…Stanton.
Nice of all those empty seats to show up. Did they do this 3 hours before a game?
Great song, though. Mudcat, Catfish, Blue Moon, Blue. The A’s cornered the market on great nicknames.
I don’t know if was a private memorial or not, but I sure noticed the empty seats as well. Wonder if they announced it as a sellout 🙂
Exhibit A on why I think the All Star game is a farce – Derek Jeter being elected to start the All-Star Game. Exhibit B, is Red Sox manager John Farrell deciding to bat his worst batter (Jeter) leadoff. To me, this is simply inexcusable no matter what Jeter has meant to the game.
I don’t mind that kind of stuff for an exhibition, because that’s what this game is.
But, when you consider that kind of BS happens when this game counts to decide which league’s WS representative gets home field advantage in the WS — that is absolutely ridiculous….
BWARP- (Baseball Prospectus measure of WAR gained as a non-pitcher ). Jeter: minus 0.4.
BWARP!! BWARP!! BWARP!!
Excuse me! No more bean omelets for this guy..
Twin, I sent you an email.
I just read David Schoenfield and he offers another example how this game is farcical . . . Let’s say they need to pinch-hit for Jeter — like bringing in Brandon Moss — especially if there are runners on base. Do you think this will be done? NEVER. God forbid we offend the great Jeter. In fact, you rarely see those moves any longer in All-Star Games. Usually we just see straight position-for-position changes, which occur between innings.
Ironically, when the game DID NOT matter (back in the 1960s and early 70s, you use to see these types of moves. Now that the game matters, idiot managers start their own pitcher (Wainwright) instead of the true number one pitcher, Kershaw. Ridiculous is right.
By the by, I am being facetious – even though the game was an exhibition, they played all out to win. Now? Meh.
Yeah, I agree, this game is farce, though still somewhat less farcical than the AS games of the other pro sports. I’m hoping that after there is a new commissioner, he will get rid of the WS home field aspect, and institute something real. Either just alternate leagues every year, or the WS home field goes to the best regular season record of the two finalists, or whichever league wins interleague play the prior year — something that is logical. It would upset me if, say the Giants went 102-60, and cruise into the WSeries, and the Yankees end up 92-70, limp into the WS, yet they get the home field because the AL won the AS game…
Puig
It’s not an exhibition as long as they continue to give home field advantage in the WS to the winner. From that standpoint, batting Jeter leadoff is inexcusable. Farrell doesn’t care, his team has no shot at the post season. That’s just bullshit, if you as me
Snarkk, I see you said the same thing as I did just 30 minutes earlier. Well played.
Anybody remember Bobby Bonds playing in the AS Game and wearing white cleats? For some reason, that memory stuck out for me. I looked it up, 1973 AS Game in KC. Bobby jacked a 2-run dinger off Bill Singer with Joe Morgan on 2nd. NL won it 5-1. I wouldn’t mind having a 27-year old Bobby playing on our crew right now…
After Jeter, the AL is stacked so it probably won’t make much of a difference. And it’s baseball, Jeter isn’t incompetent, he could get on base, score a run, that type of shit.
It just looks so stupid with him batting lead off after having a completely pedestrian year. And if I was him I don’t even think I’d WANT to bat lead off. He knows he’s a farce at the top
Giants have had 4 All-Star MVP winners in their storied franchise history..
Mays, Marichal, Bobby Bonds and Mr. Steroids Melky Cabera!!!
McCovey too, Kat…
Damm I stand corrected!
Well played Loo, McCovey 69 A/S game in Tigers Stadium,shit he hit 2 bombs, can’t believe I missed Stretch!!’
Not trying to be annoying but It was in DC, Kat…
Well, this was fun.
I just heard Ted Robinson on KNBR talking about the AS Game.
Sheezus, he’s more down on it than anybody blogging here. Really hates the WS home field part of it, says that’s a sop to FOX hoping it will keep people watching. Last year, the audience was down to 11 million, down from 28 million at its height years ago, with average TV viewer age now at 53 — bad for the Network and MLB…
Flav, I’m amazed anyone favors little leaguers shagging balls in the OF during the HR Derby. Every year I say the same thing and I’ll say it again. IT IS INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS!. The most powerful hitters in the world swinging as hard as they can at pitchers laying it in there for them. It is a miracle that some kid hasn’t been killed or maimed by a line drive out there.
well if no one has ever been injured then maybe it’s not as dangerous as you think it is. Plus, most of the balls that stay in the park are pop ups. I’m sure all those kids get screened for ability which is a lot more than you can say for those old broken down Ball Dudes. Now THAT is an accident waiting to happen….
Many of those kids are complete klutzes and even the best little leaguers in the world don’t belong out there with major leaguers especially under these circumstances. Do you think they make the parents sign waivers of some sort?
How many space shuttles did they launch without a hitch before the Challenger blew up?
yes, I think they make the parents sign a waiver. And I bet they can’t sign it fast enough. Put it on the parents, not MLB.
I’d let my kid do it if she wanted to and if I felt she had the skill to do it…..
Future Giant Giancarlo…
This is easily the most interesting HR Derby LU I’ve seen in a long, long time. You have the Cespedes/Puig Cuban connection, you have arguably the biggest bomber since Barry Bonds played (Stanton) and you have Tulo who is always electric. The rest of the guys don’t interest me much but Josh Hamilton didn’t interest me much in 2008 until that first round…..
I took Bautista because I think he’s going to fly under the radar compared to the other guys especially Stanton who has all the pressure on him. J-Baut can hit them as far as anyone and the other lower profile guys didn’t interest me at all though if Donaldson can get on a roll he could be interesting.
looking at the radar future, the rain should be leaving that area within 45 minutes or so.
http://www.weather.com/weather/map/interactive/USMN0503:1?interactiveMapLayer=radar&baseMap=r&zoom=7
Went with Cespedes, because he’s been there . . . and won (2013). Expect the same result this evening.
Brett Anderson @BAnderson_30 2m
Should’ve kept the Metrodome around just in case…
this dude can’t pitch for shit but he’s a pretty funny follow on twitter.
NOOOOOOOOOOO! A co-worker just turned up the volume for the Home Run Derby. It’s going to be a long night.
One Dodger fan for Puig. Wow!
I was going to put a list together but now I’m bbqing so that isn’t happening.
So Berman uses the “Down with Frazier” line when Todd was in little league and it went flat. Tries it again in 2014 and it’s still flat.
As Flavor said, all those little league kids look like they were vetted. lqtm
one of them look like he took a body shot and I thought Loo mighta finally called it! But he was ok.
I’ve said for a couple of years now, I am 100% positive that MLB is using juiced balls. There’s no one checking them, why wouldn’t they?
Aren’t they made in the DR?
my guy didn’t even take the 7th out? Why not? Too dominant? lqtm
Shit Bautista hit some serious Bombs 10 jacks,
My boy Stanton better bring his A game..
Puke shutout. I fucking LOVE it! lol
the check swing first out was the best. Epic. Kevin, you are OUT of the contest!
Puig puked out. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Grab some pine meat.
Puig what a pussy!!!
Lmfao “SHUTOUTED” LOSER!!!
Gee 1st swing a squibbed to the mound to fuckin funny!!!!
maybe he’s dumb enough that he thought it was a bunt contest but figured it out after that first at bat. #notasdumbasstupid
lqtm
Though I think he’s just an idiot 24/7 everyday.
these distance are a joke. Ball goes out LC it’s 420 but it goes third deck LF and it’s 356? WTF?
I see now they differentiate the landing spot and the projected distance.
rich fat white fans in the stands are not making rich-fat-white fans across the world look very athletic…..
Man, that was a moon shot.
projected 510? Isn’t that the glove at ATT distance?
there is no fucking way in Hell that those balls aren’t juiced. Soft pitched balls just don’t come in hard enough to get hit that far. That’s just plain physics….
Holy Fucking Baseball !!!
510 ft and the threads were coming apart!! STANTON incredible power!!!
That’s something when his peers are “shocked and awed” by what they just saw.
Man, if I am Donaldson, I am feeling like the juggling act coming on stage after the Beatles.
Lol Blade…Reminds me of The Tubes opening up for Led Zeppelin at Kezar in 71…
“The Tubes”….hilarious and rad pull. Nice.
WTF is a swing off entail????
Forget it. I get it.
Frazier Knock Outs Frazier!! 😃
Key is the pitchers who know the tendency of their guys swing.
Gallego grooves them in easy and right in Cespedes wheel house.So he moves on easy over Jones who was more erratic..
“Joe Posnanski @JPosnanski · 12m
Tell you what I’d like to see: An Inside the Park Home Run Derby.”
Hilarious. Stanton zero.
Giancarl0
Yeah Frazier KO’s Ali Stanton, freakin Derby is fixed, “Frazier in the finals is like having Duane Kuiper in it!”
Well Dirt picked Frazier and I picked Cespedes. Lettttttssss Geeeettttttt Reaaaaaddddddyyyyy Tooooooo Ruuuuummmmmmbbbbblllllleeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since the AL isn’t real baseball I declare myself the winner.
lqtm 🙂
lqtmX2
Blade, Funny how we made the first two picks.
Flav, that’s a cool pic in the lead.
Yeah, that’s how I knew you had Frazier. I remembered that was the 2nd post.
What would make this perfect is if the contest was for a Twin PC. 🙂
I know, right? Hey, I’m going to be in Reno/Tahoe from July 23rd to 29th so if you’re up there (and I know you moved but still) lemme know, it would be a great time to get a beer and watch a game.
zzz down go Frazier,
Guess nothing wrong with Cespedes wrist, truly impressive defending champion..
Yeah, very impressive. He got stronger as the Derby went on.
I saw some of the celebrity softball game. Fred Lynn was pretty pumped up after he hit a homerun. The competitive pride is still there.
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It was another riveting episode of “Under The Dome” last night. The week before was an attack of killer caterpillars. Last night it was a storm of acid rain. Life is tough under the dome.
On “Longmire,” Vic and her husband got kidnapped by some kind of crazy hillbilly cult, led by the guy who put Steve Buscemi in the woodchipper in the movie “Fargo.” The Scandinavian actor who had the great line in “Fargo”: “Let’s go to the pancakes-house.” The pancakes-house. You gotta love Coen Bros. dialog for little details like that.
Speaking of Fargo, that show with Billy Bob Thornton was really good.
Not sure how the Dome is doing, but the unintentional laughs are high from what I’ve heard.
Is it anything like the book? Well, shit, I read it and I don’t remember much of it. King is like that sometimes. The Chinese cooking of reading. You’re full after you read it, but an hour later, you barely remember what you ate. Or, uh, read . . .