The batting cage was rolled away, players and media cleared the field, and excitement began to mount as the minutes ticked down until the start of the 30th anniversary of the All-Star Game's Home Run Derby. Down near the right field foul pole, I stood ready - in full ball hawk mode - to catch me some crushed official Rawlings Home Run Derby-logoed baseballs!
[Above; foreshadowing]
George Kenneth Griffey, Sr and his son George Kenneth Griffey, Jr were announced as the two honorees in the event's ceremonial first pitch:
Senior looks like he's on my pizza-and-pasta diet. More power (and mozzarella) to him!
The Home Run Derby participants were next feted on an infield dias:
Jude's boy Anthony Rizzo was a zero:
The Blue Jays Josh Donaldson jacked one foul that was caught by Sean Casey:
High expectations for Prince Fielder went unfulfilled:
Some guys, so you may have heard, fared better than others [additional foreshadowing]:
Between the first and second round of the Home Run Derby, Lou and I learned something very interesting. Earlier in the afternoon, during batting practice, we observed a player wearing the AL-variety All-Star jersey who we did not recognize and who also was blasting baseballs into the upper reaches of the Sun Deck with more consistency and greater length than any other batter. Lou zoomed in with his camera but all we could decipher was his number 8. The name on the back of the jersey was just beyond focus and, from what we could guess at, did not correspond with any Major Leaguer we knew. And we know 'em all! To reiterate; this guy was JACKING the ball.
Announced as taking place between the HR Derby rounds was the national HR Derby finals for high school students.
Now batting, from Toronto, Canada and committed to playing college baseball this year at Notre Dame, Andrew Yerzy. Yerzy! [Little wonder his name wasn't recognizable to us.]
The kids were using aluminum bats, which Lou and I failed to spot during batting practice, but still; you take an aluminum bat out there and try to hammer one 500 feet.
Andrew Yerzy was, unsurprisingly, the eventual winner.
The Cubs had a second participant in Kris Bryant, the NL's Rookie of the Year for 2015:
He, too, was a zero. And speaking of chumps:
Albert Poleholtz [sic] fizzled.
Once the final round participants were determined, the HR Derby championship trophy was paraded onto the field by Dave "the Cobra" Parker and Eric "Eric the Red" Davis. Cincinnati Red Dave Parker won MLB's inaugural Home Run Derby in 1985 and Redleg Eric Davis won the HR Derby in 1989.
The finals consisted of Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson.....
..... versus the Mighty Redlegs' third baseman Todd Frazier.
Dodgers versus Reds for title supremacy. That's old school, Big Red Machine era tradition!
Next in All-Star Summer; a pictorial feature of Todd Frazier's Home Run Derby triumph!
Roll the credits!
[The answer to last week's trivia question can be found at the end.]
On field prior to the 86th All-Star Game's Home Run Derby, Dodgers ace lefty Clayton Kershaw loosened up:
The San Francisco Giants' 2014 World Series MVP hurler Madison "Mad Bum" Bumgarner was mostly chillin' during batting practice:
Cardinals Paul Bunyan-esque outfielder Matt Holliday lugged a couple of bats around the field like some kind of tough guy:
Then he tossed the bats aside like so many matchsticks. We get it, Matt. You're a big strong dude. Knock it off already.
MLB Network's Harold Reynolds flitted about the field in a feeble attempt to recapture some small element of his past (alleged) glories:
Mike Trout and Price Fielder were not impressed with Harold's antics. Shortly thereafter, Cecil Fielder's son became thoroughly - and comically - confused about where he was expected to appear, next:
The correct answer to last week's trivia question How many full-size Louisville Slugger baseball bats do I share a bedroom with? is.....
Fifteen.
There were no correct answers submitted.
Good night stars! Good night moon! Good night bat rack!
Next up in All-Star Summer; actual Home Run Derby action (finally)!
Roll the credits!
In the weeks leading up to the 86th All-Star Game, Lou and I had pondered the option of selling some portion of our All-Star tickets as a measure to off-set the King's Ransom that Major League Baseball imposed upon fans for the price of admission. The leading candidate for restoring fiscal balance were, we believed, our tickets for the Home Run Derby. This was an event that first began, precisely, 30 years ago (thus marking 2015 as the 30th anniversary MLB All-Star Game HR Derby) and thanks entirely to ESPN's monotonous Chris Berman has become in recent years completely unwatchable. Intolerable may be more accurately descriptive. In the end, Lou and I agreed that since we weren't going to be subjected, on site, to Berman's televised banal inanity that we would almost certainly enjoy the HR Derby experience.
River City was - again - graced with favorable weather on Monday July 13th.
Yes, a bit of hazy overcast. In a world full of alleged climate change, this is the centuries-old unchanging standard for summers in Cincinnati.
Lou came armed with Ansel Adams-quality photographic accoutrements:
As such, the preponderance of photos that follow in this and the upcoming All-Star Summer posts are his and not mine. Por ejemplo:
Mr Heavy Artillery.
Lou and I arrived at Great American Ball Park as early as the stadium's gate staff permitted entry. We made it a priority to take in all the sights and sounds of the HR Derby; the on-field workouts, NL and AL team photos, batting practice..... everything. Seated just a few rows from the field and to the foul side of the right field foul pole (call it a "fair pole" and you'll get a knuckle sammich!), we were in a prime position to catch batted balls. I came prepared!
For this august occasion I busted out my old ballglove. That's right! This is a vintage, game-used (by me) [Randy ?!] Cooper-model glove. Please, contain your envy. OK, OK. It didn't take much "busting out," I keep this glove on a bedside stand. Doesn't every red-blooded real live nephew of Uncle Sam? Here's your trivia question of the day; How many full-size Louisville Slugger baseball bats do I share a bedroom with? The first person to submit the exact number prior to publication of the next installment of All-Star Summer wins the privilege of buying me lunch. One entry per human being. Other terms and conditions may arbitrarily apply.
Drifting in near-silence over Cin City was a pay-TV sponsored dirigible:
On no! I did not just post a photograph of a zeppelin! Did I?
Lou captured better zeppelin fotografisch with his spy satellite-grade gear:
Meanwhile, events on the ground were taking shape in the form of the National League team beginning their round of batting practice:
Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday was seen razzing the NL pitchers assigned to shag fly balls:
Aroldis "the Cuban Missile" Chapman, but one of the Redlegs' two All-Star representatives, is seen laughing in the background of the photo above. Don't know how much he has to laugh about these days. In fact, a full range of Cuban Missile expressions were on display that afternoon:
With his back to us, we didn't see many of Chapman's expressions, but Lou captured a few:
Happy Chappy!
'Bout to fire off a magazine full of rounds, punch out a car window and allegedly lay his hands on his old lady Chappy. Who's laughing now, Mr 105?
The Missile ain't got time for your player hatin'!
Next time in All-Star Summer; Let's meet more of the All-Stars!
Roll the credits!
On the afternoon of December 8th, 2015, our fellow high school classmate Alison Kettler passed away. That same evening, unaware of the events unfolding in Oxford, while out Christmas shopping I was moved, perhaps by some unseen force, to photograph the evening's glorious sunset.
Alison was a good friend to me in high school. Unfailingly sweet, kind and - I'll always remember - particularly generous. In the intervening years, although I drove past her home a few times each week and sometimes she would be outside and we'd wave happily to one another, we hadn't spoken since those long-ago days of our youth. No reason for this other than the great yawning chasm time forges between people.
Today her earthly remains will be laid to rest. Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet of "the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns." Yet if you look again at the photograph, above, one may - I believe - see Alison in her sunset.
