July 14, 2026
Eric Hartline/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Philly made the Home Run Derby something to remember.
Willson Contreras was down to his last swing, then took one high and in to a thunderous cheer.
And the Boston Red Sox slugger couldn't help but lean into it and smile, not the literal pitch, but at the energy around him that he might be hard pressed to ever get swept up in again.
Citizens Bank Park in South Philly, finally, hosted the annual All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday night, and it was beautiful.
Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, as the hometown Phillies heroes, were celebrated and rallied behind by a packed crowd of 45,000-plus with every baseball they sent rocketing into the outfield seats – and even beyond.
And everyone else? Well, they got welcomed to Philly in the most good-natured yet signature way possible.
They got booed relentlessly, but except for when they grounded a ball into the dirt, or fouled one off, or popped out, or even took one inside to force them out of the batter's box whenever they were up against a Phillie. Those turned into makeshift causes for celebration.
Because at the end of the day, those guys were still wearing the other teams' uniforms, All-Star or not.
So fans poured it on. They never let the energy fade, made their allegiances immediately and definitively known, and made what's ultimately an inconsequential showcase in mid-July feel like a borderline pennant-clincher in October.
It was Philly. It was perfect.
And it was impossible not to smile at.
Kyle Schwarber has been sending the Philly crowd into a frenzy all night! pic.twitter.com/QQQ95GaKEL
— MLB (@MLB) July 14, 2026
"The boos were crazy, especially in the opening ceremony," said Yankees star Ben Rice (via SNY), who got blitzed with them during introductions as soon as Philly native and guest announcer Michael Buffer said the words "New York."
"It was so cool!" Rice continued, with a big grin on his face. "I always like the saying, 'They don't boo nobodies.' So it was really cool to just hear 'em rain down on me, even in Round 2. It was fun."
Ben Rice gets introduced (and booed by Philly fans) at his first Home Run Derby! pic.twitter.com/4PtaoV4Uex
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 14, 2026
Every non-Phillies star got it, too, even though Rice was arguably on the receiving end of the worst of it – because, after all, Yankees disdain is universal, and New York disdain is always heavy around the Sports Complex.
"Trust me, it was funny," Schwarber said after his run to the Derby's final round (via KYW's Dave Uram). "All the guys were walking up for when they were getting introduced, and they were like, 'Man, the hometown cookin's real here.' I was like, 'Yeah, it is! This is Philadelphia!' They want their guys to go out there and do it, and they're gonna try to will the other guys not to."
And Philly did try.
When Contreras was matched up against Schwarber in the semifinals, he stood in the box with deafening boos as he waited for every pitch, which only grew louder whenever he elected to take one to save a swing.
Schwarber had belted nine homers way over the wall that the Bank went crazy for right before, so when Contreras built up to eight and needing one more with one more swing, he knew the whole ballpark was going to lay it all down on him.
That's when his Derby pitcher and Red Sox bench coach Jose Flores choreographed a toss high and inside, which led Contreras to spin out of the box and take a step away as the entire crowd erupted, and every All-Star watching from behind the foul lines burst into laughter.
Contreras couldn't help but smile, too, as he made his way back to the plate.
Willson Contreras pretending to get hit by a pitch in the Home Run Derby 😂
— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) July 14, 2026
The T‑Mobile Home Run Derby is LIVE NOW on Netflix! #HRDerby pic.twitter.com/DXHi3p9BVG
It was all signature Philly, and it was perfect, with the cheers carrying on as Contreras fouled away his last swing to send Schwarber to the last round.
And it never relented, even as St. Louis' Jordan Walker – smiling the whole way through, too – managed to outslug Schwarber in the end.
"My thought was 'Philly's brutal,'" Walker joked with the media in the press conference room after (via 97.5 The Fanatic). "But I think it's pretty special because they love their players, and that's what you want from where you play. I've never [heard] people cheer so loud for, you know, Schwarber and Harper, and those guys did their thing, for sure. But I can't hate 'em, because [those are their guys]."
It was impossible to.
It was signature Philly, and it was perfect.
Even if you could, you had to respect it.
And if you were on their side of it, there was no way you couldn't love it.
"It was unbelievable," Schwarber said (again via Uram at KYW). "I was saying from pitch one, where I felt like I was just going too hard, trying way too hard, because I wanted to get it, and I wanted to do it for them. I was like, man, talking to yourself, 'You just gotta slow it down here,' because it's rowdy, and you feel it. You feed off that. So it felt like it got louder as we went, but it felt easier to kind of tame it once we kept going forward."
"That's what you live for, right?" Schwarber continued. "You want your hometown to be behind you, and they were for every second of it, from when we got introduced to our first pitch, to all the way to the end. I tip my cap to the Philadelphia faithful. They showed up tonight, and I'm excited to see what they have tomorrow."
Philly fans were booing EVERYONE at the Home Run Derby 😭
— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) July 14, 2026
No one was spared from the boos 😂 #HRDerby pic.twitter.com/tdA9TkJbEx
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