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by Digger

One star shined brightest in the Bronx last evening... Josh Hamilton.

Baseball's exploding off of Hamilton's bat hit at Ruthian distances soon had Yankee Stadium fans chanting H-A-M-I-L-T-O-N. Shots traveling distances in excess of 500 feet. By the time he finished round one, the Texas Rangers Star clubbed 28 home runs. Hamilton's comeback from drug addiction has been well documented. He's been reborn as a person and ballplayer. Thunderous upper deck blasts, rockets to the black seats in centerfield, line shots down the right field line... Hamilton was on center stage and gave fans a night to remember. He's been one of the few feel good stories in our world of all major sports clouded by controversy.

After blasting 28 (watch here) first rounders off of his personal 71 year old pitching coach, Clay Counsil (Yankees front office, I hope you were watching... 71 years, threw 100 pitches, mostly strikes! SIGN HIM UP!)... he fizzled. In the finals, he wasn't able to duplicate round one magic as Minnesota's Justin Morneau was the contest champion. No doubt, center stage belonged to Hamilton and enjoyed every minute of it... even taking time out to sign an autograph for an eager child who rushed out after a crushing homer. 28 home runs is now the new All Star Home Run Derby Record.

Notably absent from this contest was home town slugger Alex Rodriguez. ARod has made headlines as his marriage hit the skids. Now, New Yorkers will razz him for skipping out of the festivities. Fans paying in upwards of four digits for All Star packages... one of the games brightest stars and All Time HR hitters opts out. New York sports pages also broke a story stating how his a bit stingy with raising/donating to worthy charities. Hey, it's NY... everything has become fair game when you make $500M playing baseball in the worlds media capital. Madonna/ARod headlines, ARods Toronto Dancer, ARod's Boston connection (no wonder why he played miserably vs Boston in Playoffs), ARod's wife flying off to hook up with Lenny Kravitz... perhaps he's looking to lay low... tough to do when being a superstar. This was not the right venue to skip slugger. Luckily, Hamilton's heroics stole the show.

Many theories of how to better stack future home run contests exists. Only eight contestants this season. Not taking away from their performances, but many of games biggest sluggers (including last years champ) did not participate. Many milestone home runs have been hit recently by some of baseball's greatest players. Ramirez, Griffey, Chipper, Rodriguez, Bonds, Thome... there's a way to spice it up or encourage other game day All Stars to play too. Another consideration is changing when the money ball appears. The money or bonus ball has customarily been thown last to a batter (it's worth in upwards of $15,000 for each home run hit). Problem here is most hitters are worn out after swinging away during the previous 10-15 minutes. Stick it in the middle... after five outs. Sponsors will want positive recognition. All monies go to charity. Hamilton blasted 28 first round homers and raised $0.00. He tired out before the money ball went into play. Most sluggers missed out on money ball homers creating the only flaw with the days festivities.

Next up... the Mid Summer Classic... 2008 MLB All Star Game.