MLB Home Run Derby 2019: A history of the Minnesota Twins in the Home Run Derby
The MLB Home Run Derby goes down on Monday night and while the Minnesota Twins do not have any participants they have an extensive history in the event.
For many of you reading this, the MLB Home Run Derby has been a staple of All-Star weekend. Growing up, I remember sluggers such as Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa smashing home runs with reckless abandon in the event, but as a fan of the Minnesota Twins, there didn’t seem to be too much to get excited about locally.
The Twins’ best player was Kirby Puckett and while he would go on to have a Hall of Fame career, he would only hit 30+ home runs once (31 in 1986) and never take part in a Home Run Derby. Mix in the dearth of talent the team had between its 1991 World Series championship and the 2002 renaissance Twins and Minnesota didn’t have much representation in one of baseball’s biggest events.
Despite that lull, the Twins actually have a long history with the Home Run Derby. The event was established as an All-Star weekend staple when the game was hosted at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in 1985 and since then six Twins have taken their hacks during the event with Justin Morneau being the only Twin to participate in the event twice.
While the Twins will not have anyone participating in the event this year, it’s still fun to look back and see how the Twins fared over the years and who took home the derby crown.
1985: Tom Brunansky
The 1985 Home Run Derby was the first official one in Major League Baseball history, but the event had its roots established long before then thanks to a TV show. The original Home Run Derby took place in December of 1959 and was a quick competition taped at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles.
The show aired for seven months in 1960 and featured some of the game’s greatest sluggers including eventual Twins Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who squared off with Willie Mays in one episode of the series.
When the event was reincarnated in 1985, there were several rule changes (including going from nine “innings” to two) and the event was run as a non-televised exhibition for the fans at the All-Star game. To appeal to the hometown crowd, Tom Brunansky was one of the players selected to take his swings and did well, smacking four home runs over the fence in his two innings.
While Brunansky’s total was good enough to force a tie with future Hall of Famers Jim Rice, Eddie Murphy and Carlton Fisk, it wasn’t enough to take home the title. That honor would go to Cincinnati’s Dave Kingman, who hit six home runs to win the first official Home Run Derby.
1989: Gary Gaetti
Four years after Brunansky took his hacks for the Twins, Gary Gaetti decided to follow in his footsteps, taking part in the 1989 Home Run Derby at Angel Stadium in Los Angeles. In the first televised derby since the TV show hit the airwaves, Gaetti seemed to be a great choice to represent the Twins with 93 HRs between 1986 and 1988.
Despite steady power that would eventually produce 360 career home runs, Gaetti got stage fright in front of the camera, failing to hit a single ball over the fence. While the shutout had to be embarrassing for the Twins’ third baseman, it was a weak derby overall as only 14 balls were hit between the eight-man field.
In the end, the derby produced a tie at the top as Cincinnati’s Eric Davis and Texas’ Ruben Sierra would lead the field with three bombs each.
2002: Torii Hunter
After Gaetti’s donut, it would be a long time before a Twins player would enter the Home Run Derby. As the team bottomed out through the 1990s, there just weren’t many players that were worthy of stepping into the field. As the Twins were reborn during the early 2000s, one of the most popular players on the team was Torii Hunter. In 2002, he would be asked to take part in the derby at Miller Park in Milwaukee.
Hunter would hit 20 home runs in the first half of the 2002 season and join an impressive field that included Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Paul Konerko and Sammy Sosa. Hunter hit three home runs and missed the cut for the second round along with Rodriguez, Bonds and Lance Berkman.
Jason Giambi would win the derby with a total of 24 HR, but Hunter’s moment would come the following night when he would rob Bonds of a home run in the All-Star Game.
2007 & 2008: Justin Morneau
The Twin with the most success in the Home Run Derby is Morneau as he’s the only Twin that has participated in the event twice and even took home the title in 2008. Between those two appearances, the Minnesota first baseman would hit 26 home runs before declining an invitation in 2009.
Morneau’s first appearance came in 2007 when he took part in the festivities at AT&T Park (now known as Oracle Park) in San Francisco. The field included several top sluggers including Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard, but Morneau held his own tying Pujols with four bombs in the first round. Morneau’s bid would come to an end there, however, as he would fall 2-1 in a swing-off with Pujols.
The following season, the derby was all about Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton. In what was a true Tortoise and the Hare tale, Hamilton went off, smashing 28 of his 35 home runs in the first round of the contest. While the performance was impressive, Morneau had a more steady approach, hitting 18 homers in his first two rounds. With the count reset in the finals, Morneau would out-homer Hamilton 5-3 to win the first derby title in team history.
Morneau would hold off of competing in the derby for the rest of his tenure in a Twins uniform but would make one last appearance in the event as a member of the Colorado Rockies when the All-Star Game came to Minnesota in 2014. After getting a standing ovation from the Minnesota crowd, Morneau would hit two home runs to cap off his derby performances.
2009: Joe Mauer
One of the biggest complaints during Joe Mauer‘s career was his lack of power. However, the Twins great made an appearance in the Home Run Derby in 2009 thanks to 15 HR in his first 64 games of the year. As part of a season where Mauer would hit a career-high 29 HR on his way to the American League MVP Award, he would go head-to-head with Pujols, Fielder and future Twin Nelson Cruz.
Mauer would take his swings with his high school coach doing the pitching and he would fare well by his power standards, hitting five balls over the fence in the first round. Although Mauer was on a power surge throughout the 2009 season, his gap-to-gap style wouldn’t produce success as he would fall just short of making the cut.
As for Cruz, he participated as a member of the Texas Rangers and would head to the finals to challenge Fielder. Fielder would get the upper hand in that battle, hitting a majestic blast to win the finals by a score of 6-5.
2014: Brian Dozier
In the summer of 2014, Brian Dozier was in the midst of a breakout season. After a modest first start to his career, Dozier was suddenly hitting for power and in the first half, the Twins second baseman hit 18 home runs to punch his ticket to the derby. (There also was a push to have more hometown participants after Robinson Cano got booed out of Kaufman Stadium in 2012, which may have helped spawn Dozier’s appearance in Minneapolis.)
Taking his hacks in front of a hometown crowd at Target Field, Dozier didn’t fare too well hitting just two home runs in the first round of the derby. This crop didn’t have too much in terms of competition as Giancarlo Stanton and Yoenis Cespedes were the lone big names in the contest with Morneau’s cameo also making headlines.
At the end of the long night that included a rain delay at the beginning of the contest, Cespedes would defeat Todd Frazier 9-1 to take home the title.
2017: Miguel Sano
The most recent appearance by a Twins player came in 2017 when Miguel Sano stepped onto a national stage. As one of the most hyped players in Twins history, many figured this would be the first appearance of many for the then 24-year old. With a first half that featured 21 HR, this was a chance to show the nation why Minnesota was so enamored with their third baseman.
Sano’s appearance would be the first since the Home Run Derby adopted a round-by-round format and many expected a showdown between Stanton and New York’s Aaron Judge. Those plans would be ruined by Judge’s teammate Gary Sanchez as he upset Stanton in the first round and Sano would oblige taking out Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas and Sanchez to head to the finals.
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Sano would have a respectable showing in the finals hitting 10 home runs to wrap up a total of 31 in the event. The euphoria of Judge’s breakout summer would be too much, however, as Sano would fall by a score of 11-10.