Were The Home Run Derby Balls Juiced?

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but this is one I buy into. You can't tell me Bobby Abreu--who I admit is a great hitter and packs a powerful punch--set derby records at one of the bigger ball parks in the majors, without juiced baseballs. Twenty-four in the first round? Forty-one total? And it's not like he was the only one hitting bombs. David Ortiz hit 17 in the first round and didn't even make the finals.

I know what hitting juiced baseballs is like. While playing in a summer baseball league in Cincinnati, I once played a game that followed a senior league game. The senior league played with "juiced" balls that were wound more tightly than normal. As a gag, one of our guys threw a juiced ball in without the other team noticing. I stepped to the plate, hit one off the end of the bat, and watched it fly over the right center field fence. It was like hitting a golf ball.

I can't say I blame Major League Baseball for doing it. It's just an exhibition after all. No pitcher is going to get hurt by a come-backer and the stats and records don't really count for anything either. It was just a way to inject a little excitement into the home run derby without injecting any steroids.

Think about it. Multiple players don't hit consistent 500-foot blasts without the assistance of something. In years past it's been 'roids. Monday, since the players could no longer be juiced, the baseballs were instead.