The Home Run Derby has captivated baseball fans since it was introduced at the 1985 All-Star Game. For years, some of the biggest sluggers in the game have competed by blasting moonshots in an exhibition for slugging supremacy. But not all of the game’s top power bats want to participate.
For years, some in baseball carried the belief that the event wound up warping the swings of those involved. The reasoning was that trying for home runs consistently in a Home Run Derby could affect the mechanics of a player’s swing, leading to worse results in the second half of the season.
