Silva Edges Paul, Wins 4th Annual Home Run Derby

By KYLE KEOUGH
DOUBLE DAY DAILY

Double Day's fourth home run derby might've ended up being its most competitive, as Vic Silva needed every last one of his nine final-round home runs to outlast Reid Paul and win the home run derby.

Silva finished the competition with 25 home runs on the competition and hit no less than 8 homers in any given round. Silva finished with at least a share of the highest total in every round, a feat rarely achieved.

While the competition heated up after the opening round, the home run derby curse continued for the league's top home run hitter. With the exception of Blade Stevenson's breakout season two HRD performance, the league leader in home runs has traditionally struggled in this event. This was the case with Lefty Moore, whose 39 homers on the season amounted to no better than a 2-home run first-round total.

Joining Moore was Albert Wall, who has recessitated his career in Oakland but finished the first round with two homers as well. Montreal's top slugger, Barry Broadhurst, likewise struggled to heat up in the first round of the competition, mustering only two homers as a result.

The fourth of the first-round competitors not to advance was New York's Albert O'Brien. O'Brien hit 3 on the afternoon, with his longest shot being only 432 feet.

Meanwhile, the competition's leading quartet blasted deep shots and put up gaudy numbers.

Silva, Paul, Albuquerque's Phil Maxwell, and Louisville's Les Cloud crushed a combined 31 first-round home runs, and it seemed clear that the finals were likely to feature two of the game's young superstars in Maxwell and Cloud. In round one, Maxwell combined for the first-round lead (with 8) and even blasted a derby-record 523-foot shot. Cloud started strong but seemed to tire severely as the first round went on. Still, it was assumed that both were bigger, more formidable sluggers than Paul and Silva.

Yet Maxwell and Cloud tired in the second round, allowing for Paul to squeak into the finals with 5 home runs.

In fact, Cloud, the final semi-final competitor, had 4 home runs with 5 outs remaining, but could not muster another shot over the wall to at least tie Paul. He would've needed two home runs to move into the finals.

Silva, who went after Paul in the finals, knew the number to beat was 8, and managed to hit his 9th with two outs remaining.

In the midst of what could be his most productive season ever, Vic Silva will look to springboard off of his home run derby title towards a productive second half for the Wichita White Stockings. For Paul--who had 48 home runs last season and was a free-agent signing to the tune of $11.5 million per season--his performance in the derby and throughout the season has validated Jackson's decision to sign him to an expensive deal.