Home Run Derby (TV series)

The rules were simple: Any ball not hit for a home run was an out including called strikes. And three outs was a batter's inning. Nine innings were played. Ties were played out in extra innings.

Wrigley Field in Los Angeles had an inner fence with palm trees and a brick wall located several feet behind it. Any pitch hit in that direction had to clear the wall or hit the top of the trees that stuck out over the wall to count as a home run. Outer wall distances were 339 feet in right and 340 feet in left.

While one player was taking his turn at bat, the other player would sit at the host's booth and have a brief conversation, typically unrehearsed small talk about the contest or the player's performance that season. Willie Mays, who was a champion later in the run after losing in the initial contest to Mickey Mantle, joked with host Scott during his run that the host should be quiet while he batted for his third consecutive home run (for which Mays would receive a $500 bonus). Scott took him up on it, speaking into the microphone sotto voce, similar to a bowling or golf announcer, whenever Mays stepped up to the plate. Sometimes when the batter hit a ball into the deep outfield, the player in the booth would comment that it would have gone for extra bases in a real game, to which Scott replied that "on Home Run Derby it's nothing but an out". Some players wore golf gloves during the show—a notable addition because the batting glove was still years away from being a normal part of a player's gear.

Hank Aaron, 6-time winner on the show

Mickey Mantle, who hit the most home runs on the show

Nineteen players, including nine future members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, participated in the series – "almost all the power hitters of the era."[4]

	Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

Player	Team	Appearances	Record	Total HR
Hank Aaron	Milwaukee Braves	7	6–1	34
Bob Allison	Washington Senators	3	1–2	9
Ernie Banks	Chicago Cubs	3	1–2	25
Ken Boyer	St. Louis Cardinals	2	1–1	9
Bob Cerv	Kansas City Athletics	2	1–1	11
Rocky Colavito	Cleveland Indians	2	0–2	7
Gil Hodges	Los Angeles Dodgers	2	1–1	13
Jackie Jensen	Boston Red Sox	4	2–2	29
Al Kaline	Detroit Tigers	1	0–1	1
Harmon Killebrew	Washington Senators	4	2–2	23
Jim Lemon	Washington Senators	2	0–2	7
Mickey Mantle	New York Yankees	5	4–1	44
Eddie Mathews	Milwaukee Braves	1	0–1	3
Willie Mays	San Francisco Giants	5	3–2	35
Wally Post	Philadelphia Phillies	2	1–1	16
Frank Robinson	Cincinnati Reds	2	1–1	13
Duke Snider	Los Angeles Dodgers	1	0–1	1
Dick Stuart	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	2–1	21
Gus Triandos	Baltimore Orioles	1	0–1	1

One pitcher for the show was former major leaguer Tom Saffell and the catcher was minor leaguer John VanOrnum,[5] later a San Francisco Giants' coach. Art Passarella, a former American League umpire who would go on to a TV acting career, served as the plate umpire. There were also umpires along both foul lines to help judge fly balls that were close calls.

The winner received a check for $2,000 and was invited back for the next week's episode against a new opponent (a rarity in that era for syndicated games); the runner-up received a check for $1,000.[4] If a batter hit three home runs in a row, he would receive a $500 bonus check. A fourth home run in a row would be worth another $500 bonus check. Any consecutive home runs hit beyond that would each be worth $1,000.[1] Each show would end with the host presenting each player with their prize checks (beginning with the loser), and would award separate checks for consecutive home run bonuses. These were actual bank checks, not the jumbo "display" checks typically used today. For example, if the winner hit three homers in a row, they would receive one check for $2,000 and another for $500 instead of one check for $2,500. As an incentive for throwing good home-run-hitting balls, the pitcher who threw the most pitches for home runs also received a bonus, according to the host.

Unlike more recent home run derbies, which usually award prizes in the form of donations to a player's choice of charity, the economic realities of the era meant that the cash prizes earned by the players on the show were a substantial income supplement.[6]

Scott's play-by-play and interviewing style was not very different from many of the announcers of that era (straightforward and upbeat). Scott died on July 13, 1960, from a heart attack at the age of 45; in the wake of his death, the producers decided not to replace him and instead canceled the show. (Benjamin Stoloff, the series director, died September 8 of the same year.)

In 2003 and 2004, the Major League Baseball Players Association held similar contests at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, Nevada. The contests were held just before spring training, consisted of eight-man elimination tournaments, and were televised on ESPN. The contests lasted for only five innings.

The original series is intact, having been rerun on ESPN from December 17 to 28, 1988, and July 10 to October 28, 1989. Its rights now belong to MGM Television. The series proved popular and was credited in part with the establishment of a classic sports network which would eventually become ESPN Classic.

ESPN Classic ran the program in primetime in September and November 2009 after a 2-year hiatus, and still occasionally carries episodes in middays. In later years the intro, as well as some comments at the close of the show, were narrated by former Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Ross Porter.

In the summer of 2007, MGM Home Entertainment (with distribution by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) release the series on three DVDs.

Episodes are also available on YouTube and the iTunes Store.

• Markusen, Bruce (September 29, 2015). "Cooperstown Confidential: Mark Scott and the Home Run Derby". The Hardball Times. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
• Matinale, Kenneth (February 5, 2014). "Home Run Derby 1960: a different perspective". Radical Baseball. Retrieved December 21, 2016.

• Home Run Derby at IMDb
• Announcement of ESPN's revival