ESPN earned a 4.7 overnight Nielsen rating for last night's State Farm Home Run Derby, down slightly from a 4.8 overnight for the event last year. K.C. led all markets with a 15.1 local rating, marking the second best rating for an All-Star Game host city since ’02. The event also delivered the best rating ever in K.C. for an MLB telecast on ESPN. Rounding out the top markets for the telecast last night were Pittsburgh (9.9), Detroit (8.9), St. Louis (8.4) and N.Y. (6.7). The rating in N.Y. saw a big jump from last year (up 10%), despite the early exit of Yankees 2B Robinson Cano. With Dodgers CF Matt Kemp serving as captain of the NL squad, the telecast earned a 4.6 local rating in L.A., up 48% from last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
BERMAN REAX: ESPN's Chris Berman once again called of the Home Run Derby last night, which elicited responses on Twitter. ESPN Radio 1530 Cincinnait's Mo Egger wrote, “Complaining about Chris Berman calling the Home Run Derby is like complaining about the heat in July.” Awful Announcing commented, “I didn't think it could get worse than Chris Berman calling the #HRDerby, but Chris Berman warming up the crowd did just that.” The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Josh Yohe wrote, “My child is 23 hours old and Chris Berman's yelling has already made him cry.” CBS' "Late Show" head writer Eric Stangel wrote, “Forget Chris Berman- Every year, Will Ferrell should call the #HRDerby as Harry Caray.”
