I remember as a child loving the All Star game. As a young child - not yet jaded by eighteen seasons of miserable (present season excluded, thank G-d) losing baseball served up by the Pittsburgh Pirates - I collected the cards, played the video games, played stick ball and most of all loved watching the game of baseball.
The All Star game meant a bit to me as a young one because I never got to see the American League. The first nine years of my life were as a Mets fan and the past twenty has me a follower of the hapless-since-Sid-Bream-ruined-our-dreams Buccos. There weren't a ton of them playing and you got to see larger than life match ups of my favorite players.
Nowadays the game itself has a lost a lot of meaning. You can blame it on a number of factors including interleague play, the sheer number of players selected, the approach the managers take to it, the availability of so many games you just didn't have in the 80s.
But watching the home run derby and Prince Fielder just a moment ago continue to swing away when the first round swing off was done, just to see if he could hit five homers with only five swings (and he did it), it reminded me that this may be the most fun moment of the game. The game, for all the MLB hypes it, really counts for nothing. Yes, I know! The winning team gets home field advantage in the World Series. But at its heart, the game is an exhibition put on for fans to just have fun and see guys they would never see paired up or against each other for one day.
Home Run Derby is fun. Even Chris Berman and the way he commentates the action is all about fun. Can you honestly imagine Joe Buck calling the Home Run derby? Really?
In 1994, the Pirates were only at year 2 of 18. They hosted the All Star game. Ken Griffey Jr. baseball also came out that year for SNES. I can't say if it was the first or not, but it had a unique feature. Home Run Derby. I remember playing it at All Star Fanfest and friends would come over to play one another. We'd compete to see which made up player - who needs player licensing anyways?!? - could smack the most.
The ground rules before any Home Run Derby challenge were simple. No Ken Griffey Jr.
I always picked a huge muscular guy that was a blatant rip off of Frank Thomas.
