American Association All-Star Break

All photos of AA HR Derby available on Flickr.

This past week was the 11th installment of the American Association All-Star Game, and I attended the Home Run Derby portion at Franklin Field, home of the Milwaukee Milkmen.  A lot of baseball purists tend to shun the derby as frivolous entertainment and a publicity stunt, but I've long held the view that it is the most exciting part of any baseball league's all-star break.  A lot of fans tend to agree with me as the numbers bear out that these events draw way better, both in terms of attendance and television ratings, than the actual All-Star Game.  Many years in fact I will only watch the HR Derby and won't even watch the ASG.  I've attended all sorts of homerun derbies, from the 2014 MLB version at Target Field, to the Northwoods League Derby at Kenosha Harbor in 2016, and even an impromptu exhibition derby featuring Jose Canseco in Madison, and these were all some of my most vivid baseball memories outside of the Tour.  So I of course jumped at the opportunity to see a derby in my own city.  It was not a promising forecast for the evening when I approached the gate to find people buying walk-up tickets with ease, but I pressed on and met a group of my friends inside.

We had tickets in the first 3 row of a section in right field.  It was evident pretty soon after we sat down that about 90% of the fans would be sitting in the outfield, which was a super weird juxtaposition particularly in a smaller independent league ballpark.  The format was very similar to the MLB version of the derby, in which participants faced off against each other based off of seeding, rather than just taking the highest totals of the group.  It was also the same timed format as MLB - each batter got 2 minutes and could take one timeout per round.  When you remove the "bonus time" and all of the TV timeouts, it makes a big difference, because the entire 3 rounds with 8 batters took barely over an hour.  The hometown participant was Cam Balego of the Milkmen, but given where we were sitting, the only batter we really cared about were the two lefties - Conor Panas of the Lincoln Saltdogs, and Chris Herrmann of the Kansas City Monarchs.  The majority of their homeruns launched well over our heads and landed on the concourse and tents behind us, as there are only 3 rows of actual seats in right field.  But by the later rounds when the batters started getting more tired, our prospects of snagging a homerun grew - and I caught one!  On the fly!  I should probably remember which of those two men hit me the homerun, but sadly I don't.  I almost caught a second homerun as well - I leapt and it hit my glove, and fell down into the row behind me (which means that at least somebody in our party got the ball).  It was much more difficult to track the baseballs than I thought it would be.  For almost the entirety of the first round, the sun was setting directly into our faces, and also there were many times when multiple balls were in the air at the same time, as the pitcher does not wait for a ball to land before throwing the next pitch due to the timed format.  I'm sure most dads would probably give a ball they caught to a kid in the stands or to their own kid at home, but screw that - it is proudly sitting in a baseball display case at my house.

Zach Nehrir of the Cleburne Railroaders ended up taking home the hardware.  He put on quite an impressive display and his round totals actually grew as the event went on.  Most of the batters struggled to get into the double digits in the first round, but after that, I think the remaining participants knew not to worry about any strategy and just swung as hard as they could, as many times as possible.  Zach defeated the aforementioned Panas in the final round, so it was exciting that we got to see at least one lefty make it through to the end.

I had a blast at this event and I'm glad I went, especially with the impending move to Minnesota.  But I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with the fan turnout and the lack of energy in the ballpark.  The Milkmen consistently put out a great product - they won a championship in 2020 and also produced a back-to-back MVP in Adam Walker - but the few times I've been there, the general lack of atmosphere was a common theme.  I hope that the lack of attendance at this major event is not reflective of the fan support and appetite for baseball in suburban Milwaukee, because indy baseball is just the best, and Milwaukeeans should be very blessed to have multiple professional ball options in a market of our size.

HOMERUN DERBY PARTICIPANTS: 
East Division
Cam Balego, Milwaukee
Josh Altmann, Chicago
Zach Nehrir, Cleburne
Hill Alexander, Cleburne

West Division
Connor Panas, Lincoln
Chris Herrmann, Kansas City
Nick Anderson, Lincoln
Vince Fernandez, Sioux City

winner - Zach Nehrir
score – 16-14 final round, 43 total
stadium - Franklin Field

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/23/23:

Brewers 55-44, +1.5; 3 v. Reds, 3 @ Braves, 3 @ Nationals, 4 v. Pirates

Twins 52-48, +2.0; 3 v. Mariners, 3 @ Royals, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 v. Diamondbacks

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 13