Smashing balls into the right-field fountain beyond the wall at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City Monday night, the Detroit Tigers’ Prince Fielder became the second player to win more than All-Star Home Run Derby Monday night.
Swinging from the left side of the plate, Fielder matched Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players to win multiple titles, thrilling the crowd at en route to beating Toronto’s Jose Bautista 12-7 in the final round.
“Just being mentioned with (Griffey) is real special,” said Fielder, who spent time at Griffey’s house when he was a kid. “My dad would let me go over and play video games all day. He always took care of me when I was a kid.”
On a night when the Yankees’ Robinson Cano was repeatedly booed and went without a home run, Fielder put on the most powerful display among baseball’s big hitters. He won at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium three years ago, and Monday Fielder had a total of 28 home runs over three rounds to cap the main event on the eve of the All-Star Game. He hit the four longest drives of the night, including a pair that traveled 476 feet.
“They were far,” he said. “That’s not easy to hit it out there.”
After three of his five blasts splashed into the fountain in the first round, Fielder started the second round knocking four more balls into the 322-foot-wide water spectacular, which by then was illuminated in the twilight.
He added another water drive in the final round, then leaned against one of his sons while he watched Bautista swing.
“I’m a little disappointed,” Bautista said. “I’m capable of doing more. I had a lot of fun doing it.”
When he won three years ago in St. Louis, Fielder’s 23 homers included a 503-foot drive that disappeared between two sections of bleachers in right-center. Griffey won titles in 1994 at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium, 1998 at Denver’s Coors Field and 1999 at Boston’s Fenway Park.
New York Yankee Robinson Cano set a final-round record of 12 en route to last year’s title in Phoenix, where he hit 32 overall. This year he was the object of loud booing throughout by fans upset he didn’t select the Royals’ Billy Butler after promising to take a hometown player for his derby team.