Who knew?
Nobody did.
Several hours before the end of Tuesday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta, I discovered the motivotion for winning the thing for at least two of the eight participants was something that cost $14.41 (incuding taxes) two miles away from Truist Park.
Here’s how it started:
Two Scrambled Eggs with Toast & Jelly; choice of Grits, Hashbrowns or Sliced Tomatoes; a Waffle and your choice of Bacon, Sausage or City Ham
The only thing as sizzling as the weather Monday night at Truist Park in Atlanta during the Home Run Derby was Joe Smith, the Minnesota Twins catcher whose blasts kept going far and then farther than that.
Before a lively crowd of 41,912, Smith ignored the temperatures hovering around 90 degrees throughout much of the wind-free evening, and he ripped his way toward a couple of things of note: (1) XX homers to edge the XXX for Ray Smith and (2) $1 million from Major League Baseball.
To keep the tears away, Andre Dawson laughed. Thirty eight years ago, he won the third Home Run Derby in All-Star Weekend history with (wait for it) four home runs at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
“It was a whole different format back then,” said Dawson, when the event was two innings with five outs for two participants from the National League and two more from the American League. In contrast, there are now four players representing each league, and they compete over multiple innings with time limits, timeouts, bonus periods and all that money.
On Tuesday afternoon, I asked Washington Nationals slugger James Wood what he would do if he won the $1 million later that day, and he said without hesitation, “I’d probably go to Waffle House.”
Wood was eliminated during the early portions of the derby, but I’m guessing he probably went to Waffle House anyway.
And how much did Dawson receive as that 1987 winner along his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame?
“Nothing,” said Dawson, still laughing.
Baseball didn’t start its $1 million payday for the Home Run Derby champion until 2019. Now MLB even compensates the runner-up ($500,000), the other six participants ($150,000) and the hitter with the longest homer ($100,000.)
Here’s the other thing: Unlike 1987, which was 11 years before ESPN began turning the Home Run Derby into a yearly loive TV event, it has become more than just a warmup act for baseball’s All-Star Game the next day.
Both the All-Star Game and the Home Run Derby were sold out this year, and according to Ticketmaster, the cheapest ticket for the Home Run Derby before Monday’s first swing ($249) was more expensive than cheapest ticket for Tuesday’s All-Star Game ($221).