Royalty sees the Home Run Derby at Citi Field!

After I left the Fan Fest Monday afternoon July 14th at the Jacobs Javits Center, I walked over to a bar across from Penn Station called Local West where I met up with my pal and fellow roadtripper, Andrew Van Cleve who took Amtrak up from Philadelphia to see the Home Run Derby with me. I met him inside the bar. I sat down and I had a beer with him. When we got done we went around the block and we ate dinner at Wendy's. After we ate, we took the subway out to Citi Field for the Home Run Derby.

Home Run Derby at Citi Field

This was the first time I witnessed this unique event. It was strange going to a ballpark to watch different players just swing for the fences. It turned out to be a very entertaining event. Before the players took their swings in the batter's box, there was a musical performance by Pitbull.

As for the participants of the Home Run Derby, they consisted of eight players, four from the American League and four from the National League.

They were as follows:

Prince Fielder (last year's champion) Tigers
Michael Cuddyer Rockies
Yoenis Cespedes Athletics
Pedro Alvarez Pirates
Chris Davis Orioles
Bryce Harper Nationals
Robinson Cano Yankees
David Wright Mets

The format was as follows:

The players took turns by alternating leagues starting with the American League going first. There was two rounds which was followed by a Championship round.

The four players with the highest number of home runs in the first round advanced to the second round.
In the second round, the home runs carried over from the first round to the second round.

The Championship round consisted of the two players who hit the most cumulative number of home runs in the first two rounds. The player with the most home runs in the Championship round was declared the Home Run Derby Champion.

The rules were as follows:

Each player was allowed ten outs in each round. An out was registered when a player swung at a pitch and didn't hit a home run.

Each team had a captain. For the American League, it was Robinson Cano of the Yankees and for the National League, it was David Wright of the Mets.

Here's how the Derby played out:

Round one the winners were Yoenis Cespedes who lead the way with 17 long balls. Chris Davis & Bryce Harper each had 8 and Michael Cuddyer made the final cut with 7 roundtrippers.

In the second round, Yoenis Cespedes added 6 more homers to finish the two rounds with 23. Bryce Harper added 8 more to finish with 16 which qualified him for the Championship round.

In the Championship round, Yoenis Cespedes beat out Bryce Harper, 9 homers to 8.

As a result, he was declared the 2013 Home Run Derby Champion. Ironically he was the first winner of the Derby not to play in the actual All-Star Game.

Speaking of the All-Star Game, stay tuned for a special post that I'm going to do about that experience.

It should be noted that after I left Citi Field after the Home Run Derby, I was stranded outside the entrance to the 7 train. There was a fire at the 103rd street station at 10:40PM which suspended service for almost an hour. Thankfully I wasn't working the next day. With that being said, I tried my best to stay calm. Once the subway service resumed, I went home like I normally do. I finally got home at 12:30AM. What a way to end a fun night.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman