Fans Get to Go All Babe Ruth-Like at the Home Run Derby - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Kudos to State Farm for making this year's Home Run Derby more exciting, by letting one fan call his/her shot, thereby adding some much needed drama to the event. Via Darren Rovell, comes State Farm's intriguing new promotion for the Derby in New York.

Here's the deal. One lucky fan picked out of the pool of entered names in the contest will get to come onto the field and call, a la Babe Ruth, where exactly Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz will hit his first pitch.

If Ortiz hits the shot where the fan said it would go, the fan wins a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid vehicle, the official vehicle of MLB that has a value of roughly $50,500, and a 2009 season ticket package for his/her favorite MLB team.

Now, previously, Century 21 had coughed up $250,000 towards the purchase of a new home (fwiw, I refuse to believe that there aren't loopholes galore in that prize after taxes, APRs, loans, etc). As Rovell points out, the Tahoe is certainly worth less than that (and according to the official rules, the prize package maxes out at $101,500.00 US).

The lucky fan also gets a five day trip to New York, accommodations at a "premiere NYC hotel", four tickets to the Home Run Derby and the All Star Game, some sort of Broadway night out in NYC, a $1,000.00 Mastercard gift certificate and a bunch of MLB gear. So if you're the one picked, life is sweet. Life is even sweeter if you get Ortiz to play along with whatever shot you pick and you end up winning that Tahoe.

And since Ortiz plans to aim for the fan's spot anyway, my personal plan would be to point at the catcher's mitt and make sure Ortiz knew to whiff the ball, since it's not his first homer but the first ball put in play.