Phillies Home Run Derby celebrates 50 years

The Phillies Home Run Derby is owned by my brother-in-law. I have worked the Derbies for many years and my son, Chadd works them today. The program has seen MLB talent like Mike Trout, Christian Walker and Jamie Moyer compete in the local competition.

Phillies Home Run Derby President Paul Bradley congratulates a competitor at the 2021 Phillies Home Run Derby championship round at Citizens Bank Park.

Paul Bradley checked his phone just hours before he and more than 100 others were set to have dinner at Citizens Bank Park’s executive dining room.

It was a celebration of 50 years of Phillies Home Run Derby, a community-based baseball and softball hitting competition that involves thousands of Philadelphia-area kids throughout the summer. It culminates with a championship round on the Phillies’ field in September.

The dinner was to honor towns that have hosted their local derbies for all 50 years. It was also to honor the Bradley family for creating and operating the program for those five decades.

But there was a problem. Bradley began scrolling through dozens of cancellation texts. In a short period of time, nearly half the expected guests dropped out.

The date? March 13th, 2020.

“The day the world shut down,” Bradley said.

Bradley called Jon Joaquin, the Phillies’ Director of Youth Baseball Development. They made the decision to postpone the dinner. But as the area grappled with COVID-19, the celebration wasn’t rescheduled and the 50th anniversary home run derby season was lost.

And that dinner would have celebrated something extraordinary.

Paul’s father, Jack Bradley, began Phillies Home Run Derby in 1971, the same year Veterans Stadium opened. The first competition included six derbies in various towns with the winners from three age groups invited to compete in the championships on the field at Veterans Stadium.

“Dad took the idea right to the Phillies,” Bradley said. “And it was a no-brainer. It spreads goodwill for baseball and the Phillies. It’s a win-win.”

A message in honor of Jack Bradley on the scoreboard at Veterans Stadium.

Paul and his brother, John, have now run the program for more than three decades and grown it to include three rounds (local derbies, regional competitions, championships) for a total of 51 total competitions. There are three age groups made up of kids between seven and 12 years old. An estimated 22,000 children compete every year.

Paul was a kid when his dad started the program. He even competed a few times, though without much success.

“I was more of a hard-hit singles kind of guy,” Bradley said.

After graduating from college, Bradley became the President of the program, a responsibility on top of his regular full-time job. After decades of hard work, he’s pitched to an estimated 150,000 kids.

“No one in baseball has given up more home runs than me,” Bradley said. “And I’m proud of it.”

Running the competition is more than just loading baseballs and softballs into a pitching machine. Bradley has made lasting connections with local little leagues throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He’s pitched to generations of families that participate or even just spectate in their hometowns and down the shore.

“Former HRD winner Austin Kreyenhagen, who caught the 2021 girls competition in which his sister competed.

There was one guy in Stone Harbor who came up to me in the 90s and told me I pitched to him when he won the derby in the 70s,” Bradley said. “And now I was pitching to his kids. And recently, they told me if I keep going for a few years, I’ll be pitching to their grandkids.”

The stories are endless. Bradley’s daughter once won the title in a competition where he worked hard to appear unbiased. In 2004, the first competition at Citizens Bank Park, a 12-year-old hit a homer into the left field stands, resulting in an on-camera interview on TV. There was even a family this year that offered to move up the time of their wedding to accommodate for the championship round.

Competitors at the 2021 championship round being interviewed on FOX29.

One of Bradley’s favorites came when he was stopped at a bar and asked if he was “the Home Run Derby guy.” He told Bradley that he and his wife dated throughout college at Bloomsburg. When they first moved in together, they were unpacking boxes of their belongings and both pulled out a Phillies Home Run Derby championship plaque.

“And it was from the same year!” Bradley said. “It never came up when they were dating so they had no idea they competed at the stadium on the same day way before they met each other.”

The program boasts an impressive list of Major League talent as well, including: Mike Trout, Aaron and Brett Boone, Christian Walker, Mike Scioscia, Ben Davis, Jamie Moyer and Erik Kratz.

Bradley has a photo of nine-year-old Moyer with Bill Giles at Veterans Stadium. He remembers a year where there was a lineup of 1980 Phillies legends’ sons, going Boone-Luzinski-Boone. He remembers Mike Trout hitting monstrous homers over the 271-foot wall at a regional final in Millville, well farther than the required 200 feet for a home run. “But then another 12-year old hit all seven 200-foot pop ups, just enough for home runs, and beat him out by a point, 35 to 34,” Bradley said. “At the championship, he didn’t even hit one homer. And it could’ve been a young Mike Trout putting on a display at the ballpark.”

Original scorecards of Major Leaguers Christian Walker, Mike Trout and Chris Heisey.

The competition is usually held just hours before a Phillies game, meaning fans will trickle in and see the derby live before first pitch. At Veterans Stadium, with less field prep required, the derby could end just 20 minutes before first pitch. Public Address Announcer Dan Baker would often stand on the field, narrating the excitement live as kids hit homers in front of tens of thousands.

The championship has to end a bit earlier at Citizens Bank Park, but fans who come in right as gates open can see the final few swings. Families of the competitors are invited into the stands from the start.

“They’re coming with 25 other people each and they’re bringing signs, they have their face painted –– you can see the excitement,” said Joaquin, who works with his staff to organize the event at the ballpark each year. “It takes everyone back to when you’re a kid. That’s the most satisfying part of your job. It’s us reaching out and developing our fan base. And then they become fans for life.”

The 2021 championship round was a bit different. It was held in the morning, way before the Phillies took the field to play the Pirates on Sep. 25, in order to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.

But Joaquin and the Phillies wanted to make this year special. Before the game that evening, Bradley was recognized on the centerfield stage above Ashburn Alley. Phanavision played a video commemorating the program’s 50 years of operation, including messages from some of the program’s most famous baseball alumni. He was then presented with a commemorative frame with baseball cards of MLB talent that he pitched to over the years.

“That time capsule right there shows the impressive nature of the program,” Joaquin said. “It shows the deep commitment and rich history we have with our community and community partners.”

Bradley has stayed in touch with a wide-ranging network of local families and program alumni who continued to play baseball at the next level. Kratz, who helped hand out trophies to winners when he played for the Phillies, competed every year in his local derby without ever reaching Veterans Stadium.

“And I told him I must’ve given him some high pitches or something,” Bradley said. “And he goes, ‘No, you gave me more drive. Every time I lost I just wanted to train harder and get better. You made me a Major Leaguer.’

“I said, wow. Put that on my Facebook page,” Bradley joked.

This year, Kratz was in attendance to see his daughter take home first place in her age category for the softball championship. It was a full-circle moment for both Kratz and Bradley. It was an emotional day overall.

“I don’t know if I want to see my face during that video,” Bradley said.

It wasn’t easy to re-organize Phillies Home Run Derby in 2021 after a year without the competition. But it was a labor of love.

Bradley had help from family members in the next generation. His son, daughter, niece and nephew were all at the ballpark. Bradley describes his son, Ryan, as the program’s “heir-apparent.”

And there will be changes. Paul’s brother, John, is set to retire from the derby after 50 years of continuous service.

Paul Bradley’s sister, Barbara McCullagh (left) and his niece, Heather Bradley (right).

But as the program enters its sixth decade, you’ll surely find Paul Bradley operating the pitching machine in towns all over New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That won’t change for the foreseeable future. “I think as long as I can be out there, I will be out there,” Bradley said. “It’s funny. People will come up to me after competitions and tell me, ‘I think you had more fun than the kids had!’”

The Home Run Derby crew, including several Bradley family members. BACK ROW: Ryan Bradley (Paul’s son), Paul Bradley, Mike Glackin (40+ year crew member), Chadd Catrambone (Paul’s nephew), John Bradley, Jason Clayton (crew member, beat out Christian Walker for HRD title). FRONT ROW: Casey Magarity, Lisa Bradley (John’s wife), Heather Bradley (Paul’s niece), Amanda Bradley (Paul’s daughter, former HRD winner), Barbara McCullagh (Paul’s sister).

— Beyond the Bell contributor Graham Foleyk!