Memories of the All-Star Game: A Fan's Perspective (Part 1)

This is the first of a three-part series on the recent history of the MLB All-Star Game. The second part will be posted on Sunday, July 12, with the final part being posted on Tuesday, July 14.

The MLB All-Star Game is upon us once again, and for me, it’s one of the best times of the baseball season.

The All-Star games of the other three major sports have somewhat fizzled over the years. The NHL wants high-scoring games and therefore don’t pick defensive minded players, leaving the goalies on their own to keep the scoring down. Doesn’t work. The NBA doesn’t play defense and the two teams try to score more than three hundred points. The NFL doesn’t allow multiple blitzes and defenders don’t play with as much intensity because no one wants a serious injury in an exhibition match.

However, MLB’s All-Star Game is just exciting now as it was when I was a kid. Granted, pitchers aren’t in the game longer than two innings and hard slides into second to break up double plays are frowned upon, but the games continue to excite and are worth watching, more so than the other three sports.

This series will be dedicated to my top ten favourite MLB All-Star Game memories. It could be an exciting play, an entire game or one player in the spotlight. And it will be only recent memory, as the first All-Star Game I watched as a kid was in 1986.

 Babe Ruth's home run in the very first All-Star Game in 1933 will not be listed. Nor will Ted Williams’ walk-off shot in 1941, or Reggie Jackson’s towering blast into the light standard in Tiger Stadium in 1971, as I wasn’t around to witness any of those moments.

I hope you enjoy reading about my favourite moments and if you agree, disagree about the order, or feel I overlooked any games you enjoyed, please feel free to comment and share your memories as well. As always, I’m a fan and these are my memories.

10. 1989 – Bo Knows The All Star Game

      Regardless of how Deion Sanders views himself, Bo Jackson is the greatest two-sport athlete of the past thirty years. He won the 1985 Heisman Trophy award as College Football’s best player while playing halfback for the University of Auburn. He played four years with the NFL’s Los Angeles Raiders before a devastating hip injury ended his football career and diminished his baseball talents as well. He was also a star track and field athlete in college, excelling in the 100 m, 110 m hurdles, shot put, discus, high jump, long jump and triple jump.

And it was in Anaheim Stadium during the 60^th All-Star game when Bo made his mark in baseball. He was starting in left field and was leading off for the American League squad.

With the AL down quickly 2-0 going into the bottom of the first, Bo drove the second pitch from the National League starting pitcher, Rick Reuschel of the San Francisco Giants, into the centrefield seats for a solo home run. He recorded a second RBI the very next inning when he beat out a double play and after stealing second, became the first player in All-Star Game history to both hit a home run and steal a base in the same game.

He would add a single later in the game and was named Most Valuable Player as the American League won the game, 5-3.

Bo was now more than just a flashy football player who liked to break bats over his knee during the spring and summer. He was an All-Star who could carry a team on his back in two sports.

Watch Bo's All-Star Game homerun

9.   1986 – First AS Game

      The Houston Astrodome was the site of the first All-Star Game that I watched on TV. 1986 was the first year that I was really into baseball right from the beginning of the season as I only picked up interest in 1985 around the beginning of August.

      I remember being thrilled to see all the Stars from every team in just one game. The only other time I saw the best players in the same place was in the stack of baseball cards that I kept inside my dresser drawer.

      What really got me excited, however, was when the All-Stars were being introduced to the Houston crowd, and I got to see three players from the Blue Jays, my favourite team, being introduced. Shortstop Tony Fernandez and outfielders Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield were the Jays’ representatives in the 1986 game and I was proud that they were among the elite in the game.

      The starting pitchers were two of the youngest fireballers in the game at the time. Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox started for the AL, while the NLers went with Dwight Gooden of the Mets. Little did we know at the time that these two would face each other again later in the season, in Game 2 of the World Series.

      Gooden was only 21 years old and had been lights out in his first two seasons with the Mets. As a nineteen year old in 1984, he had posted a 17-9 win/loss record while recording a NL high 276 strikeouts. He followed that up with a 24-4 record in 1985, with 268 strikeouts and an amazing 1.54 Earned Run Average.

      Clemens was in the middle of a brilliant 1986 campaign. He would finish 1986 with a 24-4 record with 268 strikeouts and a Cy Young Award. He would also be the better of the two starting pitchers in the All Star Game, pitching three perfect innings, throwing 21 of his 24 pitches for strikes and the AL won the game 3-2.

      For a ten-year old kid, the All-Star game was a hit and 29 years later it still is.

     

8.   1993 – Baltimore Crowd Boos AL Win

      Toronto Blue Jays Manager Cito Gaston, who was the American League Manager due to the Blue Jays winning the AL Pennant in 1992, drew the ire of many of the fans in attendance at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore even before the game began. This was due to the fact that the Blue Jays had seven representatives in the game, more than any other team.

      While Gaston took some heat for adding four other Jays to the three that had already been voted in by the fans, it must be noted there were many reasons for their inclusions. The Jays were the defending World Series Champions. They had the top three hitters, in terms of batting average in 1993, in first baseman John Olerud, designated hitter Paul Molitor and second baseman Roberto Alomar. They also had slugger Joe Carter, who was consistently near the top of the leaderboard in homeruns and RBIs for much of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The other three reserves that Gaston had chosen (Molitor being the first) were Centrefielder Devon White, who was in the middle of one of his best hitting seasons of his career, starting pitcher Pat Hentgen, who was knocking on the door of a 20-win season, and Closer Duane Ward, who was leading the AL in saves.

      The game itself was pretty uneventful, with the AL winning 9-3, but the Baltimore fans started getting very upset as Ward was brought in to finish the game in the ninth inning.

      Baltimore pitcher Mike Mussina had yet to appear in the game, as he was scheduled to start the first game after the All-Star Break for the Orioles. But he started warming up in the bullpen, getting the fans excited and chanting, “We Want Mike.”

      But Gaston never brought in Mussina, leaving the Baltimore crowd to boo as the final out was recorded. Many in the media believed Mussina started to warm up in order to get the fans riled up to force Gaston to make the pitching change, but Cito never flinched. Mussina denied the suggestion, stating he was only warming because he didn’t want to disrupt his regular pitching schedule, although the shots of his expression in the bullpen when he wasn’t brought in may suggest otherwise. (It should also be noted that Pat Hentgen never got into the game as well.)

The second part of the All-Star Game series will be posted on Sunday, July 12, and feature moments 7 - 4.