Why do MLBers love playing in HRDX so much??

From Seoul to Mexico City; from a VR experience in the heart of London to the deserts of Albuquerque and the center of Nashville's bustling downtown. No, this isn't a new music festival, though the atmosphere isn't far off: These are just some of the locations that Home Run Derby X has hit during its three-year sprint across the planet.

The game, a modified twist on a classic home run derby features co-ed teams in a fast-paced three-on-three tournament that rewards players for home runs, target hits, hot streaks and even defense (more on the rules here). Originally just a dream on a piece of scratch paper from a group of colleagues in MLB's London office, the game has now filled stadiums and parks across the globe and has enticed All-Stars, Silver Sluggers, Cy Young Award winners and World Series champions to all take the stage and swing for the fences.

When speaking to them, it's not hard to see why.

"Man, I'm so blessed to be one of the OGs around here, the HRDX fam, and the fact that I get to continue to play the game that has given me everything that I have," the always enthusiastic Nick Swisher said after last week's event in Nashville. Swisher, who won the 2009 World Series with the Yankees, has been on the ground floor since the first trial matches of the event three years ago and he doesn't plan on quitting anytime soon.

"I mean, this game has given me the roof over my head, the car that I drive, the food that I eat," Swisher continued. "I mean, I would say this is the reason why I met my wife. At the end of the day, I owe so much back to this game and the fact that I'm able to come out here and to be a showman and to help that next generation appreciate the joy and the electricity that this game can bring."

"This was made in heaven for me, baby. A little bit of WWE with a little Home Run Derby. I'm right in the middle, baby. It's perfect."

Two-time World Series champion Jonny Gomes, who -- like Swisher -- has been playing HRDX since the very outset, agrees.

"I think it's a great event," Gomes said recently while attending a HRDX event not as a player but simply as a fan and ambassador for the sport. "You don't have to come and watch your team win or lose. You can just come and have a great time. I think it's an unbelievable environment for the father-daughter and the mom-son, and then, of course, the family to come out and check it out."

Ian Desmond, who remains heavily involved with the Children's Tumor Foundation and the Newtown Connection when not at the park, fell in love with the game from his first appearance at Fredericksburg last year.

"It was awesome, man," Desmond said after getting the win in his first tournament. "I mean, that's what you want. That's the dream as a kid: to be the center of the show."

The first year saw the event go international, while the last two years have seen it stay mostly in the United States and at Minor League parks -- save for VR events that coincided with the London Series inside the iconic Trafalgar Square. The home runs and the chance to see some of your favorite stars up close and in an intimate atmosphere are obviously a part of the appeal for an audience, but it's just one part.

Take a look at any of the packed stadiums, and you'll see just as many young girls clamoring for autographs as you will boys. That's because HRDX found a way to put MLB players on the same stage with the greatest stars from the world of softball and women's baseball. Superstars like Ole Miss and USWNT third baseman Ashton Lansdell, two-time USA Baseball Sportswoman of the Year Award winner Alex Hugo, reigning Athletes Unlimited MVP Award winner Amanda Lorenz and all-time NCAA HR leader Jocelyn Alo are just some of the women who have come out swinging -- often showing up the big leaguers who are on the stage with them.

"She's awesome," Manny Ramirez said about playing with Alo. "She's unbelievable. I was so excited to see her. I love her mechanics, and I'm just happy she was on my team."

"I love the opportunity to share the field and collab with the softball girls," Gomes said. "I don't know if it's been done before or even tried. I know it's really hard to come up with an event to collab softball and baseball. But that's really cool, and I'm super lucky to have a relationship with these girls and watch them just smash the ball."

It's a reciprocal relationship that the women's players also value.

"I had a lot of fun, and it's really awesome to see women succeed in this situation," Alo said following her victory in Nashville. "It's crazy hearing people cheering our names, but I'm just so grateful for this Home Run Derby X community, because they've really built a family here, and I feel just at home."

"I've got two young daughters, and they want to see me hit," Swisher said. "They want to see Jocelyn hit. They want to see Alex [Hugo]. They want to see Ashton [Lansdell], Amanda Lorenz, a four-time All American. The fact that if you're a young female, you see somebody up on that stage, if they look like you, then you feel like you can do that as well. The fact that we're able to put Major League Baseball players as well as the female elite players that we have on the same platform? Man, it's absolutely magical.

The event can hopefully also bridge the gap with fans who may be interested in baseball -- who have seen highlights of Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge come across their phone screens and TikTok feeds -- but are intimidated by the variety of esoteric rules that you encounter across a nine-inning game. Could this be a way that baseball can reach out to young fans around the globe, even in places where there's yet to be a local Little League team?

"Obviously, you know, there's Japan, you've got Korea, you've got all different leagues all around the world," Andruw Jones, who originally hails from Curacao, said. "But the top league is here in United States. So, as much we can continue to grow this and and bring stuff like this out to different countries for the local players from the country to participate in and be part of this event, it will just bring the crowd and the fans out more into it."

"We do have a global game. We really do," Gomes said. "I think we get reminded that during the [World Baseball Classic], but that's every four years. Just to see the global aspect of MLB and how far can this reach. Where can we go, continuing to chase down fans, along with like making new fans going places in the world where maybe they've never seen baseball?"

Of course, at the end of the day, it's about the glory of competition. It's about getting out there and showing your best against someone else's.

"When I was small in Dominican Republic, I always wanted to be a baseball player," Ramirez said. "If I still can go there and show people what I could do and have fun with my teammates, why not?"