Imagine the ultimate Home Run Derby, as presented by the Time Variance Authority. We can pluck sluggers from across baseball history, bring them together and conduct the greatest home run contest of all time.
What might that look like? I selected one player from each franchise, often the most iconic home run hitter from that franchise's history, but not always. Because I also want sluggers who can hit the ball a long way or who would be entertaining competitors, since the Home Run Derby is also about admiring those towering blasts into the atmosphere. I then ranked all the hitters from 1 to 30 and created a bracket to see how it might play out. We start with ...
Watch: Bracket announced at 10 ET | HR Derby, Monday at 8 p.m. ET
1. New York Yankees: Babe Ruth
Others to consider: Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Alex Rodriguez, Aaron Judge
No franchise has as many iconic sluggers as the Yankees, and we didn't even list players like Reggie Jackson and Giancarlo Stanton, who had their best seasons with other franchises. The Yankees have had 10 players hit at least 250 home runs while with the Yankees, four more than any other franchise. There is, however, only one Sultan of Swat. It has to be the Babe.
2. Seattle Mariners: Ken Griffey Jr.
Others to consider: Ichiro Suzuki, Nelson Cruz
Sure, it was always fun to speculate what Ichiro would do in a Home Run Derby, but the tales of his power exploits in batting practice were always greatly exaggerated. Griffey is the easy call, the only three-time winner of the Home Run Derby, and it would be exciting to see how he would have done in a Derby under the current rules with his picturesque left-handed swing on rapid fire.
3. St. Louis Cardinals: Mark McGwire
Others to consider: Rogers Hornsby, Johnny Mize, Stan Musial, Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols
You're probably wondering if steroids are legal in our Home Run Derby. Unfortunately, the time machine we invented does not extract PEDs during transportation, so each player competes as if he were in his physical prime. So that means the 1998 and 1999 version of McGwire, when he slammed 70 and 65 home runs and memorably crushed a few balls onto the parking garage beyond the Green Monster at Fenway Park at the 1999 Home Run Derby -- although we note that Griffey actually won the contest that year. Here's Big Mac hitting one out of Dodger Stadium.
4. Miami Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton
Others to consider: Gary Sheffield, Miguel Cabrera
No player in the Statcast era has mashed as many mammoth home runs as Stanton. Thirty of the 158 home runs he has hit since 2015 have been 450-plus feet, nearly 20% of his total. He had a memorable performance in winning the 2016 Derby in San Diego, although he was unable to defend his title the following season on his home turf in Miami.
5. Texas Rangers: Josh Hamilton
Others to consider: Frank Howard, Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Joey Gallo
The Rangers have had some big-boy sluggers during their franchise history, with seven different players reaching 40 home runs. It's hard to leave off Howard, whose heyday with the Washington Senators before the team moved to Texas earned him the nickname "The Capital Punisher" for his prodigious power (he was listed at 6-foot-7, 255 pounds), but we have to go with Hamilton. His historic round in 2008 at Yankee Stadium included 28 home runs, easily the record for one round under the old format, when nobody else even reached 10 that year.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates: Willie Stargell
Others to consider: Ralph Kiner, Dave Parker
Stargell's raw power was legendary. Only four players have hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium -- and Stargell did it twice as a visiting player, including a 1969 blast estimated at 506 feet. Forbes Field in Pittsburgh opened in 1909 and closed in 1970 and only 18 balls cleared the right-field roof -- seven of those off Stargell's bat, even though he would play the majority of his career at Three Rivers Stadium. "He doesn't just hit pitchers," former Pirates manager Chuck Tanner once said of Stargell. "He takes away their dignity."
7. Toronto Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Others to consider: George Bell, Fred McGriff, Carlos Delgado, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion
There is some stiff competition here as nine different Blue Jays have cracked 40 home runs, but based off his performance in the 2019 Derby, Guerrero gets the nod, even if he disappointingly elected not to participate this year. His 40 home runs in the second round in his epic showdown against Joc Pederson (who hit 39) is a record that will be difficult to beat and earns him a high seed in our contest.
8. Oakland Athletics: Reggie Jackson
Others to consider: Jimmie Foxx, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Yoenis Cespedes
Some strong candidates here, including two-time Derby champ Cespedes, plus we used McGwire to represent the Cardinals. Reggie was not only one of the game's ultimate showmen, but hit this gargantuan home run off the light tower at Tiger Stadium in the 1971 All-Star Game to show that his raw power is as good as anybody's today.
9. Kansas City Royals: Bo Jackson
Others to consider: Steve Balboni, Jorge Soler
Jackson batted 500 times in a season just once in his career, hitting 32 home runs in 1989 in 515 at-bats. Mind you, that came in a brief dead ball era of sorts that prevailed from 1988 to 1992, and he did it in perhaps the toughest home run park in the majors (21 of his 32 home runs came on the road). The next year, he hit 28 home runs in 405 at-bats. Then he injured his hip playing football. Imagine what he might have done with the lively ball that came on board in 1993, a good hip and the continued improvement he was making. At the least, imagine what he might do in our fictional Home Run Derby.
10. Philadelphia Phillies: Mike Schmidt
Others to consider: Dick Allen, Greg Luzinski, Ryan Howard
It's hard to leave off Howard, who hit a franchise-record 58 home runs in 2006 and was also the Derby winner that year, but Schmidt is an all-time great slugger, the preeminent home run hitter of his generation who led his league eight times. Only Babe Ruth has more home run titles. Schmidt hit 548 career home runs -- without the benefit of the cozy confines of Citizens Bank Park.
11. San Francisco Giants: Willie McCovey
Others to consider: Mel Ott, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds
As Bill James wrote in his Historical Baseball Abstract, "McCovey lost three years as a regular at the start of his career because the Giants came up with McCovey and [Orlando] Cepeda at the same time, and couldn't play both of them at first base. He lost significant parts of ten other seasons to injuries. The heart of his career was in the 1960s, the most pitching-dominated decade since Ruth. He overcame all these things to hit 521 home runs. ... But if played in the 1990s with the DH and the modern parks, he'd hit 800 home runs."
Teams shifted against McCovey before the shift was hip. They tried four-man outfields against him. Until Bonds came along, he held the season record for intentional walks. Mays and Bonds would obviously be great choices, but I'd love to see an in-his-prime McCovey hitting in 2021 -- and maybe we can retrofit him with good knees.
12. Cleveland Indians: Jim Thome
Others to consider: Rocky Colavito, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Travis Hafner
Thome reached 40 home runs six times in his career, including a franchise-best 52 for Cleveland in 2002. He did that in just 480 at-bats, and his rate of one home run every 9.23 at-bats that year has been topped by only Bonds, McGwire, Ruth and Sammy Sosa over a full season. Oh, and many of those home runs went deep, deep into the night.
13. Los Angeles Angels: Shohei Ohtani
Others to consider: Troy Glaus, Mike Trout
The Angels have had just five 40-homer seasons -- two from Glaus, two from Trout and one from Albert Pujols -- but Ohtani is on pace to shatter Glaus' club mark of 47 set in 2000. It's not just that he has a shot at hitting 60 home runs, but that he's doing it with such majestic raw power and that singular swing that starts with his hands held so high and away from his body. His home runs feel loud, they're so impressive. He's participating in the Derby this year and we all can't wait to see him on center stage. Yeah, home runs are fun.
14. Milwaukee Brewers: Prince Fielder
Others to consider: Gorman Thomas, Joey Meyer, Richie Sexson
Fielder is the clear choice here and it's easy to forget he had a 50-homer season when he was just 23 years old in 2007. He's still the only player to hit 50 in his age-23 season or younger. I considered Meyer as kind of a random blast from the past. He was a hulking first baseman who hit only 18 home runs in the majors, but he did hit a legendary blast estimated at 582 feet while playing in Triple-A for Denver, where this year's Derby happens to be. Prince also brought some heft, however, plus he was a two-time Derby champion (once for the Brewers, once for the Tigers) who had perhaps the greatest home run celebration of all time.
15. Atlanta Braves: Ronald Acuna Jr.
Others to consider: Eddie Mathews, Henry Aaron, Dale Murphy, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones
It's hard to pass on Aaron, but he wasn't really known for hitting long home runs -- just hitting a lot of them. The five players listed above each hit at least 350 home runs while with the Braves and Acuna is headed in that direction as well. He's built like Aaron but packs a huge wallop with some monster home runs, including a 495-footer last September that the cameraperson couldn't even track.
16. Boston Red Sox: David Ortiz
Others to consider: Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Mo Vaughn, Manny Ramirez
It's tempting to pick Williams even though he reached 40 home runs just once in his career. First, he did have big power, as commemorated with the painted red seat in the Fenway Park bleachers where Williams once launched a 502-foot home run. Second, it would be fun to see him in a Home Run Derby, although he would probably take too many pitches to do well. So we go with Ortiz, the franchise-record holder with a 54-homer season, one of the game's ultimate entertainers and also a Derby winner in 2010.
17. Minnesota Twins: Harmon Killebrew
Others to consider: Kirby Puckett, Justin Morneau, Miguel Sano
Killebrew dominates the Twins' single-season leaderboard with the top six seasons. He was Three True Outcomes before it was cool. Despite his predictable nickname -- "Killer" -- he wasn't a huge man (6-0, 195 pounds) and was one of the nicest superstars the sport has known. He led the AL six times in home runs.
On June 3, 1967, he also hit a home run at old Metropolitan Stadium estimated at 522 feet (the seat was later painted bright orange in a sea of green seats). Now, we have to take that measurement with a grain of salt. The Twins' official scorer later measured the landing spot at 435 feet from home plate, but a physics professor recalculated that the ball would have traveled 522 feet if unimpeded. If only we had video evidence.
18. San Diego Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr.
Others to consider: Nate Colbert, Greg Vaughn, Adrian Gonzalez
The Padres don't have a storied history of slugging, in part because they've played in pitchers' parks and in part because they haven't had many great sluggers. Since their first season in 1969, they have just 21 30-homer seasons. Only the Royals (13), Rays (15) and Marlins (20) have fewer. Anyway, Vaughn did have a 50-homer season in the World Series season of 1998, but Tatis is the man of the moment with his long home runs -- 11 already at 440-plus feet -- although the shoulder injury that sidelined him in April will keep him out of the Home Run Derby in 2021.
19. Detroit Tigers: Cecil Fielder
Others to consider: Hank Greenberg, Norm Cash, Miguel Cabrera
Fielder was an amazing story in 1990. He returned from a year in Japan and mashed 51 home runs, launching a few on and over the roof in left field at Tiger Stadium. Although 50-homer seasons would soon become commonplace in the steroid era, Fielder's 50-homer season was the first since George Foster did it in 1977 and came in a low-run environment -- in fact, only four other AL players even hit 30 home runs that season.
20. Arizona Diamondbacks: Luis Gonzalez
Others to consider: Mark Reynolds, Paul Goldschmidt
Strange things happened in 2001. Barry Bonds set the single-season record with 73 home runs. Sosa hit 64. Four players reached 400 total bases, which no player has done since. Gonzalez was one of those four thanks in part to hitting 57 home runs -- 13 more than Reynolds, the No. 2 guy on Arizona's single-season list. It stands as one of the all-time fluke home run seasons as Gonzalez's second-best total is just 31. But let's put 2001 Gonzalez in our Derby -- which he did win that year.
21. Cincinnati Reds: Adam Dunn
Others to consider: Ted Kluszewski, Frank Robinson, Johnny Bench, George Foster, Eric Davis, Eugenio Suarez
There was nothing graceful or poetic about Dunn's game. He swung hard with brute strength, racked up strikeouts, racked up walks and hit the ball a long way when he connected. He's one of just 11 players with at least six 40-homer seasons and he famously did it four seasons in a row. This home run in 2004 traveled an estimated 535 feet.
22. Los Angeles Dodgers: Joc Pederson
Others to consider: Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, Pedro Guerrero, Mike Piazza, Shawn Green, Matt Kemp, Cody Bellinger
Hmm. Snider is the all-time franchise leader with 389 home runs, including five straight 40-homer seasons. But ... (1) those all came in Brooklyn, not L.A.; (2) there isn't much in the literature about Snider hitting home runs; (3) he benefited from the cozy confines of Ebbets Field. Green is the single-season leader with 49 home runs, which you never would have guessed. Piazza tried the Home Run Derby once, hit zero over the fence, and never did it again. So let's go with the known commodity in Pederson, who is really good at this thing. He was the runner-up to Todd Frazier in 2015 (and only because the Frazier brothers skirted the rules a bit) and lost that fabled showdown to Vladdy Jr. in 2019.
23. New York Mets: Darryl Strawberry
Others to consider: Dave Kingman, Mike Piazza, Pete Alonso
It's hard to pass on Alonso, but it's impossible to pass on Strawberry. The sound of the ball coming off his bat seemed a little louder than everybody else's. That swing with its magisterial looping arc was a thing of beauty when he connected. Oh, he also hit a ball off the roof of Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
24. Chicago White Sox: Frank Thomas
Others to consider: Ron Kittle, Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye
Thomas' swing was geared more for line drives and base hits than towering fly balls, but he was so strong that he still had five 40-homer seasons with the White Sox. Some other big mashers passed through Chicago -- Dick Allen, Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Adam Dunn -- but the Big Hurt is the choice here.
25. Tampa Bay Rays: Jose Canseco
Others to consider: Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria
Pena holds the top two individual marks with 46 home runs in 2007 and 39 in 2009, but we can't have a Home Run Derby without Canseco. Back in the late 1980s, his pregame batting practice sessions had fans arriving two hours early to the ballpark. Hey, he did hit 34 home runs in 113 games in his one full season with the Rays in 1999 and even made the All-Star team. Here's a home run he hit into the fifth deck in Toronto, although with the A's not the Rays.
26. Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos: Vladimir Guerrero Sr.
Others to consider: Bryce Harper
We went back to the Expos days and give the nod to Guerrero over Harper. Both are Home Run Derby champions -- Guerrero in 2007 with the Angels and Harper in 2018 when he made that dramatic rally in front of the home fans -- but the young Guerrero was a more dynamic force of nature with his sledgehammer swing.
27. Colorado Rockies: Dante Bichette
Others to consider: Andres Galarraga, Vinny Castilla, Larry Walker, Todd Helton, Nolan Arenado
You could pick any of the Blake Street Bombers or go with Arenado if you prefer a more modern slugger, but a certain Rockies fan insisted that Bichette has to be the choice. Maybe it's the lure of bringing back the mullet from 1995, or the way he would explode out of that hunched-over stance, or the way he dropped the bat after a home run.
28. Houston Astros: Jim Wynn
Others to consider: Jeff Bagwell
Bagwell is the obvious selection, but he does not possess the best nickname in major league history. They called Wynn "The Toy Cannon," as he packed a powerful punch for a smaller dude. Wynn hit 37 home runs in 1967, a remarkable achievement in the Astrodome in that era. In fact, the Astros hit 31 home runs at home that season -- 15 of them from Wynn. And if you doubt this selection, find a video of Bagwell hitting a home run onto a freeway.
29. Baltimore Orioles: Brady Anderson
Others to consider: Boog Powell, Frank Robinson, Chris Davis
Picking Anderson is a reflection of a brief moment in time, but what a glorious summer of 1996, when sideburns ruled and Anderson had one of the most shocking home run seasons in history. He hit 50 of them, 35 of those coming from the leadoff spot, while never topping 24 in any other season. That's no longer the record for a leadoff hitter -- Alfonso Soriano and George Springer hit 39 -- but we want 1996 Anderson in our Home Run Derby.
30. Chicago Cubs: Sammy Sosa
Others to consider: Hack Wilson, Ernie Banks, Glenallen Hill, Javier Baez
Well, I was going to go with Wilson, because who doesn't want to see how the 5-foot-6 slugger hit 56 home runs in 1930? I was going to go with Hill, just because he once hit this home run onto the rooftop behind the left-field bleachers at Wrigley. In the end, however, I substituted Sosa, warts and all, at the last minute. Hey, it's not like he couldn't hit 'em a long way too. And yes, Sosa should probably be higher than this -- but having him here sets up the McGwire-Sosa first-round matchup we'd all love to see.
OK, that gets us through all 30 teams, but we need two more players to fill out our 32-player bracket. That gives us two at-large entries ...
31. Pittsburgh Crawfords: Josh Gibson
He was the most famous slugger of the Negro Leagues. Buck O'Neil once said the ball coming off Gibson's bat sounded like dynamite. Or that it sounded like a tree falling in the forest. O'Neil said Gibson was built like Bo Jackson, could hit .400 like Ted Williams and had the power of Babe Ruth. He's in.
32. New York Yankees: Mickey Mantle
"Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run," Mantle once said. "Sure, every time." On April 17, 1953, Mantle belted a ball out of Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., clearing 32 rows of bleacher seats and soaring over Fifth Street, located behind the left-field wall, before it rolled to stop in a yard on Oakdale Street. Yankees press secretary Red Patterson measured the final resting spot at 565 feet from home plate and that became the mythical distance of Mantle's Herculean shot. OK, the home run wasn't really 565 feet since that didn't measure the distance where the ball first landed. We're still adding Mantle.
Now we have the complete 32-player bracket. Here's how it looks:
1 Babe Ruth
32 Mickey Mantle
16 David Ortiz
17 Harmon Killebrew
8 Reggie Jackson
25 Jose Canseco
9 Bo Jackson
24 Frank Thomas
4 Giancarlo Stanton
29 Brady Anderson
13 Shohei Ohtani
20 Luis Gonzalez
5 Josh Hamilton
28 Jim Wynn
12 Jim Thome
21 Adam Dunn
2 Ken Griffey Jr.
31 Josh Gibson
15 Ronald Acuna Jr.
18 Fernando Tatis Jr.
7 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
26 Vladimir Guerrero Sr.
10 Mike Schmidt
23 Darryl Strawberry
3 Mark McGwire
30 Sammy Sosa
14 Prince Fielder
19 Cecil Fielder
6 Willie Stargell
27 Dante Bichette
11 Willie McCovey
22 Joc Pederson
Yes, those are some tough first-round matchups for Ruth and Griffey. There are two father-son showdowns with the Guerreros and the Fielders. We get a showdown between the former Auburn football players, Jackson and Thomas. McGwire and Sosa get to relive the summer of 1998. McCovey-Pederson sets up a Giants-Dodgers matchup and Schmidt-Strawberry is a classic 1980s clash. Who's your pick to win it all?
Now we just need to get going on inventing that time machine.