In a list of best baseball ideas of the past 50 years, the Home Run Derby has to rank near the top.
What once was a mere sideshow to the All-Star Game's festivities has come to exist on the same plane as the event itself. The Derby submits for fans' consideration something that was true in the 1920s, 1950s and 1990s, and something that continues to be true in modern times: the majesty of the home run is like nothing else in North American sports.
It has created superstars—New York Yankees right fielder and designated hitter Aaron Judge's 2017 performance, for instance, put him on the pop-culture map. It has driven ratings in a barren portion of the sports calendar. It has done, consistently, for MLB what the Slam Dunk Contest once did for the NBA.
Styles of play are temporary, but since Cleveland Forest Citys third baseman hit the first big-league one on May 8, 1871, home runs have proven immortal.
Here's a look at the Home Run Derby's single-event and all-time record-holders for home runs.
Who has the most home runs in a single Home Run Derby?
That record is held by rookie Toronto Blue Jays third baseman and designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. during his 2019 coming-out party in Cleveland. Amazingly, in a quirk of the competition's bracketed format, Guerrero did not win—he would have to wait until 2023 to do that.
Who has the most home runs in the Home Run Derby all-time?
No player in the 21st century has embraced the Home Run Derby quite like New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso. Alonso bested Guerrero in that epic 2019 Derby and went on to win it again in the summer of 2021. Additional Derby trips in 2022 and 2023 have made him the most prolific home-run hitter in its history.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Home Run Derby Record: Most Home Runs in a Single Derby & All-Time.
