This year’s homerun derby was a fantastic spectacle of determination, raw power, and the plot line will undoubtedly be made into a Disney movie starring Josh Duhamel as Ranger slugger Josh Hamilton. Going along with the Disney movie theme, Hamilton said in an interview before the showdown that he had a dream that he was at Yankee Stadium for the homerun derby. He couldn’t recall how he performed in his dream, but ignoring the fact that he didn’t win the title in real life, I doubt anyone could have dreamt something so near perfect than the way he riveted the Yankee fans and had them cheering “Ham-il-ton” as he humbly smiled. The display he gave in the first round was something for the record books, even in Yankee Stadium.

The derby itself was full of positives like Hamilton’s canonesque monster homeruns (he hit three over 500 feet) and the fact that Chris Berman didn’t use any stupid nicknames. There were also some negatives too like the opening act of 3 Doors Down starting things off or the fact that the State Farm representative didn’t even know the winner’s name (it’s Justin Morneau, not Jason Morneau). The derby is a classic all-star event that always awes the crowd as if they’re all watching Fourth of July fireworks. It’s definitely the time to shine for up-and-coming hitters to show signs of super-stardom, as well as consistent veteran all-stars who want to demonstrate that they still can slug with the young pups.

My only knock on the derby and the all-star revenue is that we only get to see half of the elements of the game. Sure, homeruns get the highlights on ESPN but what about the pitchers, the batters who are flirting with .400, and the fielders who scoop-up hard grounders as if their hands were Oreck vacuums? How do they get to compete against their peers?

A few years ago the NBA all-star game was kind of getting boring so they added a few new events. They tried to tinker with the slam dunk contest by adding some sort of Wheel of Dunk which determined which dunk the player would do.

While that experiment failed miserably, one that didn’t was the introduction of the guard skills competition. This contest finally allowed the point guards to compete. The skills competition also allowed for viewers to see the likes of Chris Paul go against Deron Williams and Jason Kidd. It showed that there are fundamental facets to the game like passing, dribbling, and quickness. I doubt the guard skills competition will ever gain as much popularity as the slam dunk and 3-point contests, I still applaud the NBA by trying to get more all-stars involved.

Now, with all that being said, why not add a few contests like the NBA did? Have infielders field difficult ground balls and make acrobatic throws to first (those always get on Web Gems) or have outfielders make difficult catches in the outfield and have them attempt to throw-out speedy all-stars at home plate. Along those same lines, have races to see who can round the bases the fastest. In some videogames there are hitting contests where the batter tries to aim for targets on the field and if they hit them they get a certain number of points. Something like that would be perfect for Ichiro, Alfonso Soriano, Derek Jeter, etc.

I’m not forgetting about the pitchers now. For them, maybe have a target they have to throw at from the mound and they must throw different pitches and hit those targets as well. Another idea would be to see which all-star actually throws the fastest or which one has the nastiest slider or curveball. I’m sure the owners and managers would be concerned that the pitcher might throw-out his arm, but come on…the all-star game is about the fans and about competing against the best in the league and showing that you are the best of the best. As long as they’re properly warmed-up before they pitch then it’s not unlike throwing a fastball in an actual game. The risk of injury is the only negative factor I can think of for any of these proposed contests. There are trainers and ice packs for injuries. I’ve seen players go on the disabled list for fewer reasons than a minor inconvenience they got in the all-star game. Come on, be a man and walk it off.

In 2009 when Major League Baseball has the all-star game in St. Louis I cannot wait to see towering homeruns that resemble the Gateway Arch hit all over Busch Stadium, but I want to see Carlos Zambrano, Chipper Jones, Jose Reyes, and others showcasing their talents as well.

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