CRICKETS AND KETTLE DRUMS

The bpisports.com column WHERE THE GLASS IS ALWAYS HALF-EMPTY

#10 - HOAX RUN DERBY

BY TREVOR W. RILEY

JULY 12, 2010

What are the chances of seeing 13 faux home runs in tonight's 2010 MLB Home Run Derby? Zero percent? Absolutely.

What are the chances of seeing 13 faux home runs in an episode of the original Hoax...err...Home Run Derby TV show filmed 50+ years ago? One. Hundred. Percent.

In the 1959-60 off-season, Homer Productions filmed 26 Home Run Derby episodes that aired beginning in early 1960. 19 Major League sluggers (including the likes of Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays) competed in 1-on-1, nine-inning home run hitting contests at an empty Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. The show only lasted one season, partly due to host Mark Scott's abrupt death in July 1960, and perhaps due to this terrible cut and paste job called episode 20.

Episode 20 featured a matchup of Harmon Killebrew versus returning champion Willie Mays, in what could have been the cloudiest, gloomiest day in Los Angeles, California's history. On paper, it seemed like the making of a great contest. Killebrew and Mays were both former winners that had displayed their power on camera already. "The Killer" hit 17 home runs on the show to date, while the "Say Hey Kid" had clubbed 19. Surely a gray day wouldn't dampen their home run prowess, right? Correct, but only because the producers took to the film like they were Chef Gordon Ramsay slicing a Beef Wellington.

There were 66 pitches thrown in the Killebrew v. Mays contest. 20 of them were hits into the bright California sunshine, including all 13 home runs in Willie Mays' 7-6 victory. If this was quite the overcast day, how could this be? The answer: stock footage. 30.3 percent of this supposedly legitimate contest was comprised of home runs and other batted balls from previous episodes. The folks at Homer Productions also had a flair for the dramatic.

In the top of the 9th inning with scored tied 6-6, Harmon Killebrew hit a ball to left field that bounced off the top of the wall and back inside the stadium, preserving the tie score. Wow, so close. Too bad that was actually stock footage from episode 18 of Bob Cerv's no-out swing in the bottom of the 1st inning v. Bob Allison. The whole concept of the ball bouncing back into the stadium errs on the side of unbelievability with me as well, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Here are some other points of interest as far as episode 20 goes. In the 7th inning, Willie Mays had a chance to hit three consecutive home runs which would have resulted in a $500 bonus, and shockingly enough, he didn't do it. Harmon Killebrew and Mark Scott also commented on the bad pitching during the contest, perhaps resulting in the phony show. After two swings and misses (resulting in outs) in the 2nd inning, Killebrew said to Scott, "Those balls were bad". Later in the episode, Scott mentions that one of the players "didn't have a good pitch to swing at that inning". Read into that as you may.

Alas, episode 20 of Home Run Derby was more like the 1994 movie Quiz Show, than it was a legitimate sporting event. I've personally always enjoyed the show and wished that they had done more seasons, however, the fact that there was only one season played in a now bulldozed stadium 50+ years ago, really adds to its allure and ambience. If for nothing else, I credit episode 20 for giving birth to the written CNKD column, because like Killebrew and Mays, I couldn't hit a Youtube home run on a gloomy day in February.

Well that's a wrap for column 9, episode 10 of CNKD. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or other feedback, feel free to send them along via email to cnkd2010@aol.com. There's 10 down and 999,990 to go. Peace.