I was watching the home run derby tonight, and I couldn’t help but think about how there haven’t been too many Cleveland Indians as participants over the years. Just to be sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, I looked up the participants back to the 1980s…and there were only 3 different Indians to participate, although 2 of the 3 were in it multiple times. (I only counted people who participated *as* a Cleveland Indian)
1993 – Albert Belle
1994 – Albert Belle
1995 – Albert Belle
1997 – Jim Thome
1998 – Jim Thome
2008 – Grady Sizemore
During the derby tonight, my husband made a crack about Adrian Gonzalez’s pitcher in the first round. I looked, and realized it was Manny Acta. Later, the announcers said that Gonzalez decided on Acta about a half hour before the derby started.
After the weekend he had, I was surprised that Jose Bautista didn’t make a better showing. Maybe he was exhausted after hitting so many home runs off of Indians pitching? Perhaps he should’ve just asked Mitch Talbot to pitch to him during the home run derby!
I was surprised that none of the right-handed hitting contestants fared very well. How come they don’t have lefties pitching to them in the derby?