Reworked Home Run Derby showed it was time for a change in annual competition

Baseball's intrigue is supposed to be all about being timelessness, so who would have though that a time clock could have been so valuable to a baseball event?

The Home Run Derby, created in 1985 at Minnesota's Metrodome, was reborn with energy, excitement and drama Monday night in Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. The best thing that ever happened to the derby was the buzzer-beating home runs by Todd Frazier and Albert Pujols.

Frazier, the hometown hero for the Reds, won the event when he hit a home run to left-center field during his 30-second bonus round. It beat Joc Pederson of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The derby was better because it didn't drag into the night. Each player was given four minutes to hit as many home runs as possible, plus an extra bonus of 30 seconds if he crushed two home runs of at least 425 feet.

There were eight players in a bracket-style format and a nice array of stars, from rookie Kris Bryant of the Cubs to the Pujols, the Angels' likely future Hall of Famer.

The old format had 10 players who got to keep swinging until they made 10 outs in each round. An out was any ball that didn't go over the fence.

That format was boring.

The first Derby in Minnesota was pretty much an afterthought.

It was held in between American League and National League batting practices, and hitters from each league faced off against each other. There was no TV.

Dave Parker won the event with six home runs, but the Twins' Tom Brunansky electrified the crowd when he hit a string of home runs in the final at-bat to give the AL more home runs than the NL.

It was a good concept to build on, and there have been magical moments since.

There was a time in Toronto when Cal Ripken Jr. hit 12 home runs in 22 swings. There was Ken Griffey Jr. hitting the warehouse in Camden Yards.

Bobby Abreu hit 41 home runs in 2005 in Detroit. Josh Hamilton hit 28 in one round in Yankee Stadium. Mark McGwire hit 5,600 feet worth of home runs in Boston's Fenway Park.

Exciting moments, yes. But, the Derby was due for a change.

It needed a clock. And the clock provided drama.

The original plan for Monday night was to have players hit for five minutes a turn. But when there was a threat of rain, Major League Baseball shortened the time to four minutes.

It turned out to be the perfect solution.

And now it is a format that baseball shouldn't alter.