TRAVERSE CITY -- In 21 games this season, there have been 13 home runs hit at Wuerfel Park.
There will be a host of players swinging for the fences and the $1,000 prize at the Frontier League All-Star Home Run Derby.
But it will be anything but easy.
"It's 392 (feet) to the gaps," said Jake Whitesides, who will take his cuts representing the host Traverse City Beach Bums.
Whitesides is one of four players for Traverse City to have hit a ball out of Wuerfel Park during a game. Fellow All-Star Mike Epping and Kyle Maunus have two each while Whitesides and newcomer Eric Newton each have one.
A total of seven homers have been hit by opposing teams this season.
Still, Whitesides is counting on the home-field advantage -- in addition to familiarity with pitching coach John Sexton grooving them in -- to take his chances.
"It depends," Whitesides said. "It depends on how many good pitches Sexton gives me. He normally averages about two at home during batting practice and it's usually in the second round. He said he'd be better tomorrow.
"It's a big ball park. It depends on a lot of things. It depends on how warm it is, what the wind direction is. It's just a hard park to hit home runs in."
In comparison, Traverse City has hit 23 home runs and given up 34 during 30 road games this season.
The instillation of AstroTurf this season may have knocked the home-run numbers down slightly.
But Wuerfel Park has never been very homer-heavy. Traverse City hit 46 homers in 96 games during the 2007 season, a figure that was second-worst in the league and only three better than the 43 hit by Evansville.
Regardless of how many homers that are hit, tonight's Home Run Derby champion will also allow a fan to take home a prize. Fans will randomly be paired with derby participants and the winner will allow the corresponding spectator to win a big-screen television.
The Home Run Derby is the final event tonight in the All-Star skills challenge.
First up at 7:05 p.m. is the catching competition, seeing how quick the backstops can receive a pitch and deliver the ball to second base. Next up is timing players on how fast they can run from first to third followed by the outfield accuracy competition.
In the outfield competition, players will try to hit targets at second base, third base and home on throws from right field.
Epping said he expects to be in the outfield-accuracy competition -- as well as Whitesides -- and may also take his cuts at the Home Run Derby.
"I'll probably do everything that I can," Epping said. "It's all for fun."
The Frontier League All-Star festivities actually begin at noon today with a banquet at the Park Place Dome. The All-Star Game players will be introduced and Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee will deliver a speech.
The gates at Wuerfel Park open at 5 p.m. today and players will be giving out autographs until about 6:15 or 6:30. This will be the only autograph session where all the players will be available.
Then the on-field activities will begin at 7:05 p.m., capped by the Home Run Derby at approximately 8 p.m.
There are still tickets available to tonight's action and Wednesday's All-Star Game, which will begin at 7:05 p.m. Tim Calderwood, director of media and broadcasting for the Beach Bums, said tickets are "going fast."
The Frontier League All-Star Game has sold out for 10 straight seasons.
The attendance record is 4,483, set last season at Florence, Ky. That figure could easily be surpassed on Wednesday night.
Wuerfel Park has some 4,100 total seats and a sell-out crowd of 6,532 attended the 2007 home opener.
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