2022 MLB All-Star Game: Who are the recent Home Run Derby winners?

Baseball has very few events that are dedicated to simply giving the crowd what they want to see. Steeped in tradition, it is a sport that turns its back on the sort of gala events that have made the NBA so popular in such a (relatively) short span of time, if we can think of seventy-five years as being a short amount of time. The NFL will have its off-season combine, Pro Bowl, and my, oh my, do they love a halftime show at the grand daddy of all crowd-pleasers, the Super Bowl.

But the great old man of professional sports, with a century and a half of competition to lean on, sometimes feels like a doddering old fuddy-duddy, steadfastly clinging to the nobility and grace of the game, often alienating the thrills of the paying public. I know that I, for one, am guilty of this sin, and have written at length about the subject, eschewing any change to my beloved pastime.

Since 1985, however, the cooler business heads of the MLB have prevailed, and we have allowed ourselves, if only for a single week in mid summer, to pander to the whims of the audience. And, although through gritted teeth, even I must admit that it has been, at times, glorious.

For one week only, during the All-Star Break, an event that in itself was something of a crowd-pleaser, having no bearing on the outcome of the season, and played solely as a way to allow players to add to their pension funds, baseball lets its hair down. Something of this tradition still exists in the world of soccer with the “testimonial match”, where all gate receipts go to a player who is retiring.

In baseball, with the top players already drawing a crowd for a non-game baseball event, the MLB business brain-trust decided to capitalize on the occasion in 1985 and create a tribute to the 1960 TV series Home Run Derby, by getting the sluggers of that day together to see who could hit the most dingers.

To say that it was a success is to under-sell it. It was phenomenally successful.

After this mid-80s watershed, and beginning with the first nationally-televised event in 1993, ESPN has seen this for-a-limited-time-only MLB crowd-pleaser consistently become one of their most-watched sporting events. How fitting, then, for the 35th instalment of the Home Run Derby to take place in Dodger Stadium, just a stone’s throw from the glitz and glamor of Hollywood.

Since the Reds’ big Dave Parker walked away with the first title (or second, if you count the original 1960 TV series, won by Mickey Mantle by the way), there have been several format changes and eight Hall of Famers to have won it. Twice there have been co-champions and twice the event has been cancelled. In 1986, both Wally Joiner and Darryl Strawberry hit four home runs each to share the crown, a situation which repeated itself in 1989, when both Rubén Sierra and Eric Davis both popped three shots over the wall. The 1988 event was rained out and 2020 saw covid put paid to the proceedings.

Switching from an inning-based format to a triple-elimination one has seen the numbers rise exponentially, with reigning champ Pete Alonso winning with 23 home runs in both 2019 and 2021, bringing his all-time total to 131 home runs in the competition, the most by any player ever. Joc Pederson trails him in the all-time list with 99 dingers of his own.

Here are a list of all of the winners of the MLB Home Run Derby

Whether or not Alonso can be the first ever to go three-in-a-row, we will be guaranteed to get an eye-full of big shots from our favorite power hitters. Some of the big names are not competing, with Aaron Judge in the All-Star Game, he has expressed concern about staying healthy for the entire season and over-extending himself. Yordan Álvarez is on the injured list and Shohei Ohtani, after becoming the first Japanese player to compete in the event in 2021, has not yet decided whether he will participate this year or not.

In any event, with Juan Soto, Albert Pujols, and Ronald Acuña, Jr among the participants, we will certainly see more than a few big shots. And isn’t that what it is all about?