2005 Home Run Derby! Monday 7:00 CT ESPN

[Derwood]

I say Choi will fail miserably. the Derby is a superstars event, and he ain't a superstar.

[J.R.]

This whole thing deserves to flop.

[Roast]

This whole thing deserves to flop.

 

Agreed. I'll laugh myself to tears if nobody hits one.

[Derwood]

I don't believe Andruw Jones is representing the Netherlands. The Netherlands is abbreviated as NL. I don't know what NED is for...

[Roast]

I don't believe Andruw Jones is representing the Netherlands. The Netherlands is abbreviated as NL. I don't know what NED is for...

 

Yes, he is representing the netherlands. It was on the HR derby page on MLB.com. It had a picture of jones and said "Andruw jones will be representing the netherlands..."

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I don't think it's a huge deal. Most of these guys are pretty powerful hitters. Maybe they'll do US v. World like the AL v. NL of years past. That way you can get the most prodigious power hitters and some HR leaders. The thing that makes me the most upset is that Tejada can't defend his title. Has that ever happened?

[Derwood]

I don't believe Andruw Jones is representing the Netherlands. The Netherlands is abbreviated as NL. I don't know what NED is for...

 

Ok, so I'm wrong. I had never heard that that was where he was born. Huh...

[J.R.]

This whole thing deserves to flop.

 

Agreed. I'll laugh myself to tears if nobody hits one.

 

For the first time in years, I won't be watching.

 

Baseball is religion at my house - it's a big deal when I turn my back on MLB, but this ridiculous format has forced my hand.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Hopefully they can only find a lefty batting practice pitcher, and instead of counting chois HRs we can count how many pitches he swings and misses at.

 

Yeah, it's not like Choi hit lefties as well as righties in the minors, and only has 57 AB's v. lefties in his major league career to make that assumption.

[Roast]

I don't believe Andruw Jones is representing the Netherlands. The Netherlands is abbreviated as NL. I don't know what NED is for...

 

Ok, so I'm wrong. I had never heard that that was where he was born. Huh...

 

He was born in Curacao. But, apparently you dont need to be born in a country, to represent it. Pudge Rodriguez was born in New York, but is representing Puerto Rico.

[sandberg23]

I don't believe Andruw Jones is representing the Netherlands. The Netherlands is abbreviated as NL. I don't know what NED is for...

 

Ok, so I'm wrong. I had never heard that that was where he was born. Huh...

 

He wasn't born there - he was born in Curacao (same place as Randall Simon). I believe the Netherlands have control over Curacao - like Curacao is a territory of the Netherlands or something like that.

 

Edited to Add: Here is information about Curacao...

After WW II, Curacao joined the rest of the Caribbean in a loud clamor for independence. What it got instead was a measure of autonomy as an entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curacao, along with Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten, became the Netherlands Antilles, with the administrative center in Willemstad, where it remains today. Aruba later separated from the other five islands. Today, the kingdom has three partners: The Netherlands, the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba.

Edited July 11, 2005 by sandberg23

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I don't believe Andruw Jones is representing the Netherlands. The Netherlands is abbreviated as NL. I don't know what NED is for...

 

Ok, so I'm wrong. I had never heard that that was where he was born. Huh...

 

He was born in Curacao. But, apparently you dont need to be born in a country, to represent it. Pudge Rodriguez was born in New York, but is representing Puerto Rico.

 

That's weird, will we see Carlos Delgado repping Australia next year because he vacations there each winter?

[Backtobanks]

My first pick to fail, is Ichiro, who was asked to be in to represent Japan as well. Hmm. He hasn't hit 20 hrs, since '95 in Japan, and amassed 13 in his most power prolific MLB season. Although he has a monster .639 SLG in Comerica since 2002, I'm shocked that one would even consider him. Thankfully he declined, commenting on his stats. Smart guy.

 

 

That being said, of those who accepted the nominations, my pick to fail is... Pudge. Sorry, but home field advantange isn't going to help him. In close second to last though, Bay.

 

I was hoping to see Ichiro. From what I hear, he puts on quite a show in batting practice (and that's what the HR derby is). People are amazed at how many HRs and how far they go when he hits them. He changes his philosophy once the game starts. Wade Boggs used to do the same thing.

[Roast]

I'll probably miss it, too. I have to go into work at 3. I dont know how long i'll be there though. I'm "training" with my manager today. I'm moving to Stocker (yay, no more bagging), and she's ellegedly gonna train me for register too...So i might be there a while. If i miss it, i wont cry.

[wastra]

My first pick to fail, is Ichiro, who was asked to be in to represent Japan as well. Hmm. He hasn't hit 20 hrs, since '95 in Japan, and amassed 13 in his most power prolific MLB season. Although he has a monster .639 SLG in Comerica since 2002, I'm shocked that one would even consider him. Thankfully he declined, commenting on his stats. Smart guy.

 

 

That being said, of those who accepted the nominations, my pick to fail is... Pudge. Sorry, but home field advantange isn't going to help him. In close second to last though, Bay.

 

I was hoping to see Ichiro. From what I hear, he puts on quite a show in batting practice (and that's what the HR derby is). People are amazed at how many HRs and how far they go when he hits them. He changes his philosophy once the game starts. Wade Boggs used to do the same thing.

 

I've seen Ichiro take BP twice, and while he tends to hit more fly balls and the occassional homer, he does NOT dsiplay anything close to great power. He does hit lots of gappers in BP, though...screaming liners. His homers (at least the two sessions I saw) barely cleared the fence in Seattle), and they weren't all that common.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

My first pick to fail, is Ichiro, who was asked to be in to represent Japan as well. Hmm. He hasn't hit 20 hrs, since '95 in Japan, and amassed 13 in his most power prolific MLB season. Although he has a monster .639 SLG in Comerica since 2002, I'm shocked that one would even consider him. Thankfully he declined, commenting on his stats. Smart guy.

 

 

That being said, of those who accepted the nominations, my pick to fail is... Pudge. Sorry, but home field advantange isn't going to help him. In close second to last though, Bay.

 

I was hoping to see Ichiro. From what I hear, he puts on quite a show in batting practice (and that's what the HR derby is). People are amazed at how many HRs and how far they go when he hits them. He changes his philosophy once the game starts. Wade Boggs used to do the same thing.

 

I've heard this too. From what I understand, he knows his job is to get on base and create opportunities. His batting average would be much lower if he tried to hit it out of the park on a regular basis. I think it'd be great to see a slap hitter in the HR derby though.

 

This year's field is pretty sad. Last year was at least a little mroe interesting with the 500 HR guys going at it. This year, I might not even watch. A buddy of mine is going to all the festivities (he's from Detroit), and he was quite angry when he saw the line up for the derby. He said he could leave his glove at home.

 

I think Pudge will bomb horribly. He just doesn't catch me as a HR derby type of guy.

[OleMissCub]

 

I was hoping to see Ichiro. From what I hear, he puts on quite a show in batting practice (and that's what the HR derby is). People are amazed at how many HRs and how far they go when he hits them. He changes his philosophy once the game starts. Wade Boggs used to do the same thing.

 

Ty Cobb was never known as a power hitter and whenever he was asked about it he would remark that he didn't hit home runs because he didn't want to hit homers, he thought it was a lazy mans way to score a run. When Ruth came along and hit his 60 homers in 1920, newspaper were all after Cobb telling him that he was jealous of Ruth because of his power. Well, as Al Stump put it in "Cobb": Cobb hit 5 straight homers, a record that stood for some time, just to put the journalists in their place. He then went back to hitting his merry little singles and drag bunts.

[Roast]

 

I was hoping to see Ichiro. From what I hear, he puts on quite a show in batting practice (and that's what the HR derby is). People are amazed at how many HRs and how far they go when he hits them. He changes his philosophy once the game starts. Wade Boggs used to do the same thing.

 

Ty Cobb was never known as a power hitter and whenever he was asked about it he would remark that he didn't hit home runs because he didn't want to hit homers, he thought it was a lazy mans way to score a run. When Ruth came along and hit his 60 homers in 1920, newspaper were all after Cobb telling him that he was jealous of Ruth because of his power. Well, as Al Stump put it in "Cobb": Cobb hit 5 straight homers, a record that stood for some time, just to put the journalists in their place. He then went back to hitting his merry little singles and drag bunts.

 

Hahaha

[shnsajax]

Bay does the worst with Choi not to far behind. I don't think Choi's swing is very good for this contest, but his raw power will make up for it.

 

I got Tex. beating Big Papi in the finals.

[JC]

Where is Ichiro? He could probably beat them all, and I'm not even kidding.

[rocket]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v198/rocketsaucetd/bracket.jpg

[Schwarber Fan]

How awesome would this be

 

Representing Venezuela

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_407296.jpg

 

:lol: , I think Carlos would love to do it. He would be so fun to watch!

 

If there was a pitcher's Home Run Derby, he'd win!!!

[sandberg23]

How awesome would this be

 

Representing Venezuela

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_407296.jpg

 

:lol: , I think Carlos would love to do it. He would be so fun to watch!

 

If there was a pitcher's Home Run Derby, he'd win!!!

 

I don't know...I think Hampton might have a say in that.

[otis89]

How awesome would this be

 

Representing Venezuela

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_407296.jpg

 

:lol: , I think Carlos would love to do it. He would be so fun to watch!

 

If there was a pitcher's Home Run Derby, he'd win!!!

 

I don't know...I think Hampton might have a say in that.

 

What about Wood? He has 7 career home runs.

[sandberg23]

How awesome would this be

 

Representing Venezuela

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_407296.jpg

 

:lol: , I think Carlos would love to do it. He would be so fun to watch!

 

If there was a pitcher's Home Run Derby, he'd win!!!

 

I don't know...I think Hampton might have a say in that.

 

What about Wood? He has 7 career home runs.

 

And Hampton has doubled that plus one. But Wood would be a possibility.