PHILADELPHIA — Before Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber step into the batter’s box Monday night, Citizens Bank Park will already be carrying three decades of Home Run Derby history.
Philadelphia first hosted the event in 1996, when Veterans Stadium became a midsummer launching pad for Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. No Phillies player participated, but the final rounds delivered the matchup everyone wanted. McGwire sent baseballs into parts of the Vet rarely reached during ordinary games. Bonds eventually outlasted him and won the championship.
That night introduced Philadelphia to an event that was still finding its identity.
The Phillies began building their own Derby history eight years later.
Jim Thome became the first Phillies player to participate in 2004, representing a franchise suddenly built around power. But the defining stretch began one summer later, when Bobby Abreu produced one of the most memorable performances the competition had seen.
Abreu hit 24 home runs in the opening round at Comerica Park in 2005. He finished with 41, then the Derby record, and became the first Phillies player to win the event. The performance challenged the traditional view of Abreu as a patient, all-fields hitter rather than one of baseball’s great raw power threats.
Ryan Howard made sure Philadelphia’s grip on the trophy lasted another year.
Howard won the 2006 Derby at PNC Park, defeating Mets third baseman David Wright in the final. He hit 23 home runs over the three rounds and sent six balls into the Allegheny River, four without a bounce. The spectacle became another marker in Howard’s arrival as one of baseball’s most feared hitters during a season in which he would hit 58 home runs and win the National League MVP Award.
For two consecutive summers, the Derby belonged to the Phillies.
Howard returned in 2007 and again in 2009, giving him three appearances in four years. Chase Utley represented the club in 2008 at the final All-Star celebration inside old Yankee Stadium. The appearances placed the core of the Phillies’ greatest modern era on the national stage just as the franchise was becoming a perennial contender.
Then came a nine-year absence.
Rhys Hoskins ended it in 2018. He was not an All-Star, but his right-handed power made him a natural Derby selection. Hoskins advanced to the semifinals and hit 37 home runs, then the second-highest total by a Phillies participant behind Abreu. He became the first player under that format to hit 20 in a semifinal round before losing by one to Schwarber, then a member of the Cubs.
That 2018 event created a connection that now returns to Philadelphia.
Schwarber advanced to the final, where Harper defeated him at Nationals Park. Harper was still the face of the Washington Nationals then, feeding off his home crowd and winning the title with a late surge. Eight months later, he signed with the Phillies. Schwarber joined him before the 2022 season.
Schwarber participated as a Phillie in 2022 but suffered a first-round upset against Albert Pujols. Alec Bohm followed in 2024, making a surprising run to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Teoscar Hernández.
Now Harper and Schwarber will represent Philadelphia together in 2026.
Harper becomes the eighth different Phillie to enter the event. With him and Schwarber in this year’s field, the franchise will have 11 total Derby appearances. The Phillies’ official list includes Thome, Abreu, Howard, Utley, Hoskins, Schwarber, Bohm and Harper.
The setting completes the circle.
Thirty years after Bonds and McGwire filled Veterans Stadium with towering drives, the Derby is back in Philadelphia. This time, the home team will not watch from the edge of the event.
It will send two of its largest stars into the middle of it.
And somewhere between Abreu’s record night, Howard’s river shots and Harper’s history with Schwarber, the Phillies have become part of the Derby’s identity, too.
Loading Phillies schedule...
Loading NL East standings...
