Bertrand: This was the night the Home Run Derby died
Zolak and Bertrand react to the tragedy of MLB’s Home Run Derby, providing reasons why it was terrible and ways to fix it. They also explore avenues for the league to return to the Midsummer Classic to its best ballparks.
Bertrand: Last night was the night that the derby died. That’s what I’d say about last night.
Zolak: That was bad. Bad, and I saw the end. I didn’t see any of the beginning. I saw the end. That’s the good part.
Bertrand: The sport doesn’t have personalities anymore, I’m sorry. They just don’t have them. They just don’t have any we care about. I’m talking about the players. I don’t think anyone’s drawn to any of those guys that are on the field last night. I don’t think anyone’s interested in those guys. I don’t think they care. The biggest stars in the sport don’t participate in this event anymore, and therefore it’s dead. It couldn’t hold my attention. I’ve always watched the derby. It could not hold my attention last night. Barely paid attention to it. Had it on in the background. I was not really into it. That anthem was brutal, though, McKone.
Zolak: Who was she?
McKone: I’ve never heard of her before, to be honest with you.
Bertrand: This is the best baseball could pull? Someone no one’s ever heard of.
Zolak: It’s baseball.
Bertrand: Why don’t you pull a name? Why don’t you pull someone that people know? The stadium is apparently great for fans, concourses, amenities, everything that you would expect in a new stadium. But from a TV standpoint, man, that looks like just some concrete that they poured and that was it. It just looks like a big gray concrete house. That’s all it looks like. It added no pageantry to the event. I think this is one of the problems baseball has is they haven’t gone back to Boston. They haven’t gone back to Baltimore. They need to go to some stadiums that have some sort of look and uniqueness to them.
Zolak: Where were they last year?
Bertrand: I’ll tell you, Texas ain’t it. So how are we fixing this, boys? What’s your plan, Zo?
Zolak: So if there’s going to be eight. … I understand the data, and I understand the way you look at exit velocity and all that stuff, hits, home runs, RBIs. Give me your five best categories for accumulating data to judge a baseball player. No. 1 for me would be home runs. No. 2 would be RBIs. You could factor in doubles. You could factor in exit velocity, distance hit whatever you want to do. Give me five of them, and then we’re going to go to the five, or we could go four. Four best in the American and four best in the National, and square them up, and it’s going to be for money.
LISTEN: Zolak & Bertrand try to fix the Home Run Derby
