Home Run Derby
The State Farm Home Run Derby was held the night before the All-Star Game, July 9, and broadcast on ESPN. Four players from each league competed to hit as many home runs as they could in each round to advance and eventually win the contest. This year, a five-swing swing-off would be used to break ties occurring in any round. This became necessary when Albert Pujols and Justin Morneau tied for fourth in the first round. The champion of last year's Derby, Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies, competed even though he was not named to the NL All-Star roster.
In the finals, Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim defeated Alex Ríos of the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 3–2. Guerrero hit 17 home runs in all, second only to Ríos' 19. Guerrero also hit the longest blast of the competition, a 503-foot (153 m) drive to left field that just missed hitting a giant replica glove and baseball set up on the concourse beyond the left field bleachers.
AT&T Park is distinguished by having the San Francisco Bay beyond its right field bleachers. The body of water located adjacent to the ballpark is known as McCovey Cove, named for legendary Giants slugger Willie McCovey. McCovey Cove is known for having many fans sitting in the water in kayaks and boats hoping to retrieve a long home run ball hit there. Though dozens of fans waited in the cove during the Derby, no home runs were actually hit into the water, either on the fly or off the promenade next to the right field seats, though, one foul ball hit by Prince Fielder did reach the water. This was largely due to the three left-handed competitors all exiting in the first round, as well as wind currents blowing toward left field. Prior to the All-Star break, a total of 58 home runs were hit into the cove on the fly during the park's history.
Gold balls were utilized whenever any player had one out remaining during his round. Any home runs hit with the balls meant Major League Baseball and State Farm would pledge to donate money to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Due to the change in sponsors from Century 21 to State Farm, each ball's value was reduced to US$17,000 to reflect the 17,000 State Farm agents in the United States and Canada. In all, twelve gold ball home runs were hit, which, along with a $50,000 "bonus" constituted $254,000 raised for charity.
| AT&T Park, San Francisco—A.L. 42, N.L. 32 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Round 1 | Round 2 | Subtotal | Finals | Total |
| Vladimir Guerrero | Los Angeles (AL) | 5 | 9 | 14 | 3 a | 17 |
| Alex Ríos | Toronto | 5 | 12 | 17 | 2 | 19 |
| Matt Holliday | Colorado | 5 | 8 | 13 | – | 13 |
| Albert Pujols | St. Louis | 4 b | 9 | 13 | – | 13 |
| Justin Morneau | Minnesota | 4 | – | 4 | – | 4 |
| Prince Fielder | Milwaukee | 3 | – | 3 | – | 3 |
| Ryan Howard | Philadelphia | 3 | – | 3 | – | 3 |
| Magglio Ordóñez | Detroit | 2 | – | 2 | – | 2 |
^a Recorded only seven of ten outs before hitting winning home run.
^b Advanced after defeating Morneau 2–1 in a swing-off.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Famous quotes containing the words home and/or run:
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