The home run.
It’s baseball’s signature accomplishment — and something the game has been built around ever since a guy named Babe Ruth revolutionized the sport over a century ago.
For the past 40 years, Major League Baseball has celebrated the game’s best sluggers with a Home Run Derby competition at the All-Star Game. (And yes, it has been going on that long.)
The inaugural Home Run Derby was in 1985 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, where 2025 Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Parker of the Cincinnati Reds topped a field that included six other Cooperstown inductees.
As we get set for this year’s edition, let’s take a look back at some of the most memorable moments in Home Run Derby history.
11. Todd Frazier, Cincinnati (2015)
It’s always great when the hometown crowd has someone to root for. A year after losing in the final to Yoenis Cespedes, the Reds’ Frazier rocked Great American Ball Park with a dramatic victory.
In the first year using a timer instead of just counting non-homers as ‘outs,’ Frazier put up a frantic barrage in the final seconds to tie Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson. Frazier then sealed the deal with a walk-off homer in bonus time.
10. Julio Rodriguez, Seattle (2023)
Speaking of hometown heroes, Rodríguez set a single-round Derby record by crushing his 41 home runs a total distance of 16,556 feet in the first round at T-Mobile Park. However, he couldn’t keep up his herculean pace as he lost in the second round to eventual champion Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a walk-off dinger.
Guerrero’s win that year was also historic as he joined his father Vladimir Sr. (2007) as the only father and son to wear the Home Run Deby crown.
9. Bryce Harper, Washington (2018)
Drama was also a major component of Harper’s victory in front of his hometown fans at Nationals Park.
Trailing Kyle Schwarber by nine homers with 50 seconds remaining, Harper — who would leave Washington as a free agent at the end of the season — made up the difference with a thrilling longball barrage and pulled even as the buzzer sounded. Harper then ended it with the second swing in his bonus round.
8. Robinson Cano, Phoenix (2011)
With his father — former major leaguer Jose Cano — pitching to him, Cano tied what was then a record 12 home runs in the finals, topping Adrian Gonzalez by one.
7. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cleveland (2019)
Returning to the father/son theme, Guerrero Jr. hit an astounding 91 homers — including a 40-39 triple-overtime victory over Joc Pederson in the semifinals — but yet it wasn’t enough.
In a battle of rookie sluggers, Pete Alonso won the first of back-to-back titles by outlasting Guerrero Jr. on his way to an NL-leading and rookie record 53 home runs that season.
6. Ken Griffey Jr., Baltimore (1993)
In just the second year of Oriole Park at Camden Yards’ existence, Griffey hit one of the most memorable home runs in Derby history. It soared high over the right field fence, cleared Eutaw Street and clanged off the wall of the B&O Warehouse, some 465 feet away from home plate.
To this day, it remains the only home run to ever hit the warehouse on the fly. No one has ever done it in an official game in the 34-year history of the ballpark.
What’s less remembered is that Juan Gonzalez eventually won the competition that year.
No problem for Griffey, though. He won it the next year in Pittsburgh for the first of his three Home Run Derby titles.
5. Cal Ripken Jr., Toronto (1991)
Perhaps the greatest player to ever wear an Orioles uniform at Camden Yards made his mark on the Derby the year before that park opened. At Toronto’s SkyDome, which had just opened two years earlier, Ripken made it a clean sweep of the All-Star honors.
He outslugged Paul O’Neill to win the Derby, then homered in the All-Star Game to win MVP honors — becoming the first player in history to accomplish both in the same season. (The Angels’ Garret Anderson became the second in 2007.) For good meaure, Ripken went on to be the overall MVP in the American League that season.
4. Barry Bonds, Philadelphia (1996)
Believe it or not, the Home Run Derby wasn’t broadcast on live television until 1998, so baseball fans had to catch the historic showdown between Bonds and Mark McGwire on tape delay. The matchup carries even more significance in retrospect after what happened in the years that followed.
In Veterans Stadium, Bonds trailed Mark McGwire by two homers with one out remaining in the finals, but connected on three consecutive swings to pull out the win.
Remember that in 1996, Bonds had already won three MVP awards. But he was overshadowed two years later by the record-breaking home run explosion fueled by McGwire and Sammy Sosa that resulted in Big Mac’s record-setting 70 homers in 1998. In response, Bonds intensified his power-hitting efforts and topped McGwire’s mark with 73 in 2001.
3. Aaron Judge, Miami (2017)
Perhaps the preeminent power hitter in the game today became a national sensation after his performance at Marlins Park. Though Judge hit just .179 with four homers in his first taste of the majors in 2016, he established himself as a force in his first full season.
With 30 homers at the All-Star break, the rookie seemed ticketed for a showdown with hometown favorite and defending champion Giancarlo Stanton. However, Stanton bowed out early and Judge put on a tremendous display of power, slugging four home runs over 500 feet to beat Miguel Sano in the finals.
2. Mark McGwire, Boston (1999)
After blowing past Roger Maris’ previous home run record by hitting 70 the year before, McGwire was the star attraction at Fenway Park.
Taking aim at the fabled Green Monster, Big Mac blasted a then-record 13 home runs in the first round, many of them going completely out of the stadium and onto Lansdowne Street. Fact almost imitated fiction when one McGwire blast came close to a Roy Hobbsian feat by nearly breaking a bulb in one of Fenway’s light towers.
He was on such a run that Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez even tried to steal McGwire’s bat to help fellow Dominican Sammy Sosa win. McGwire lost in the second round as Ken Griffey Jr. ultimately won, but not before showing off the peak of his home run prowess.
1. Josh Hamilton, New York (2008)
While watching McGwire do his thing at the Derby was amazing, it wasn’t totally unexpected after what he did during the 1998 season.
Hamilton’s performance at Yankee Stadium, however, was overwhelmingly stunning. Drafted No. 1 overall in 1999 — the same year McGwire won his title — Hamilton battled personal and substance abuse issues as he began his pro career and didn’t make it to the majors until eight years later.
After hitting 19 homers as a rookie with the Reds in 2007, he was traded to the Texas Rangers that winter. He got off to a strong start, blasting 21 home runs by the All-Star break and earning the first of five consecutive All-Star berths.
Hamilton put on a dazzling performance, bashing 28 homers in the opening round — including 13 on consecutive swings, a feat that’s never been duplicated. Unfortunately, Hamilton’s story didn’t have a happy ending as he lost to Justin Morneau in the finals. However, Hamilton’s all-too-brief time as one of MLB’s most feared sluggers almost certainly began that night in legendary fashion.
