...lol....thanx...I must have watched all of them at least 10 times...I was surprised that the show only lasted a very short time...when I was a kid it seemed like it was on TV for years and years.
I remember this Derby like is was yesterday. Loved both of these ball players. Both shy (on camera). They let their bats do their talking. Unlike so many clowns today. The Mick does his thing.....with that giddy grin. Thanks so much for this 'down memory lane' episode. (I'd rather rewatch this than the present AS HR derby).
...^^^ to all the above........... Thanks Rick for this trip down memory lane. I recall (where I lived at the time of these shows), every Saturday Morn, before "The Game of the Week", ...........and boyo did I dig 'em all......... Like already mentioned, these were by far better than the present HR Derbies, all full of future Hall Of Famers, more or less....... I recall seeing them again in the years b/t 2000 and 03 being re-ran on ESPN Classic, which I used to get back then, but not since then....... Greatest show on earth..........
Yeah, good stuff. Head to head between top sluggers and they would talk with the host as the other guy was batting.
I forgot to mention those HR Derbies were played in the Angels Minor Lg Field in Downtown L.A......... tho' the Angels were already an expansion team when I moved here, the abandoned Wrigley Field #2 was still intact, like Kezar Stadium is/was when I was in Frisco last in 83...... It broke my heart to see an antiquated ball park demolished, yet being downtown, parking was a big problem, and no Minor Lg Team wanted to play in a ballpark that was not new, in that era.... If you notice the areas around the OF even in the 50s were being encroached upon, by houses and commerce......... Several Boxing Title Fights were held in Wrigley/LA, as was "The Pride of the Yankees".........and other shows...... The ballpark's dimensions were cozy but symmetrical, giving a nearly equal chance to right and left-handed batters in the Home Run Derby series. The only difference was that the left field wall was 14.5 feet (4.4 m) high, whereas the right field fence was only 9 feet (2.7 m) high. from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field_(Los_Angeles) Not only did L.A. Wrigley get its name first, it had more on-site parking than the Chicago version did (or does now). In 1961, a new L.A. Angels club, named after the minor league team Los Angeles Angels (PCL), joined the American League as an expansion team and took residence at Wrigley for just the one season. The team set a still-standing first-season expansion-team record with 71 wins. Thanks to its cozy power alleys, the park became the setting for a real-life version of Home Run Derby, setting another record by yielding 248 home runs. That 248 mark would stand for over 30 years. After the 1961 season, the team moved to Dodger Stadium (or Chavez Ravine, as it was known for Angels games), which was the Angels' temporary home while Angel Stadium was being built. The new Dodger Stadium also "took over" for Wrigley Field, as the site of choice for Hollywood filming that required a ballpark setting.
The show was great but the host Mark Scott died of a heart attack after the first season. Instead of replacing him they decided just to cancel the show.
