Eight players participated in the derby in a bracket-style, single-elimination timed event. Each player had four minutes to hit as many home runs as possible. Hitters were awarded an additional 30 seconds if they hit two home runs over 440 feet (130 m). Hitters were also allowed one 45 second timeout to stop the clock (two in the finals). Homers hit off a T-Mobile Ball during the final minute resulted in a $10,000 donation to charity by T-Mobile & MLB, to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The eight competing players were seeded 1-8 based on their home run totals. The higher seed hit second in any round, and the round ended if the higher seed surpassed the total of the first hitter. In the event of a tie, three sets of tiebreakers are employed: first, a 90-second swing-off (with no timeouts nor bonus time awarded); second, each player got three swings; whoever hit more home runs in the three swings would be declared the winner; thereafter, sudden death swings would occur until the tie was broken.[3]
