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Sosa
slams Griffey at the Home Run Hitting Derby.
 July
10, 2000 -- Slamming Sammy Sosa won his first All-Star Home Run Derby when he demolished
two-time defending champion Ken Griffey, Jr., 9-2, in the final round before a loud, enthusiastic crowd of 50,118 at Turner Field.
"One thing I want to say is I came here the last three years and I
haven't done nothing," Sosa said. "If you remember I hit two home runs and one home run. I just came here today with a different
plan, and went up there and gave myself an opportunity, took a few pitches, started to swing the bat and made some good
contact.
"I just came here to put on a show pretty much, and I didn't come
here to win, but I guess I got the win."
With injuries to Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and
Manny Ramirez, there wasn't nearly the drama of last year, when Griffey won but McGwire
conquered the Green Monster at Fenway Park, with hundreds of fans filling Lansdowne Street to
catch the balls.
"Mark McGwire is one of the guys everybody is looking at," Sosa said.
"Because he was not here today, I came here to represent
him."
In the semifinals, Sosa beat Boston's Carl Everett 11-6 and Griffey topped
Toronto's Carlos Delgado 2-1.
Griffey and Sosa tied 2-2 in the first round of the finals, which was
split into two rounds with each player allowed five non-homer swings each.
Sosa, practicing his swing in the runway between rounds, then went ahead
with a 429-foot homer to left, took a pitch, and connected on four
straight swings - hard, long shots of 476, 488, 477 and 443 feet. He added
two mores, at 460 feet and 508, while fans in the crowd of 50,118 stood
clapping, chanting his name and bowing, much like the Wrigley Field
bleacher bums pay homage to him back home in Chicago.
After Sosa finished, he high-fived Griffey and both players hugged.
Griffey, who won the titles in 1994 at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers
Stadium, 1998 at Denver's Coors Field and last year, then failed to homer
in five straight swings.
Sosa thanked his pitcher, Chino Cadahia, the Atlanta Braves' minor
league field coordinator.
"He used to be my manager when I was in the minor leagues in Texas
(Gastonia in 1987). He knows where I like the ball," Sosa said.
"He was throwing me some cookies today. I have to thank him for that."
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