CLEVELAND — All-Star Week in Cleveland was as entertaining as it was record-breaking, according to statistics provided from Major League Baseball.
Play Ball Park, the interactive fan festival held at the Huntington Convention Center downtown, brought in the largest attendance for an MLB fan festival in the past 10 years with 149,513 attendees, MLB said in a press release.
The Home Run Derby also broke records, thanks in part to Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. breaking records of his own. The event drew 2.6 million Canadian viewers, making it the most-watched derby in seven years and the second-most-watched in the network’s history, according to MLB.
Guerrero Jr. not only broke the record for most home runs in the first round with a jaw-dropping 29 and the record for most homers in a single derby with 91 after a round with three tiebreakers, but gained a whopping 62,000 Instagram followers for his performance, MLB recorded.
When all was said and done, 24.1 million people reported that they tuned in for all or part of the All-Star game or Home Run Derby in Cleveland, showcasing the city to more than 60 times the population of Cleveland itself.
The event was groundbreaking for the league, but also for the city of Cleveland, as proved its worth as a hub for events such as All-Star Week to the rest of the world.
