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| Date | July 8, 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Jacobs Field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Cleveland,Ohio | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Sandy Alomar Jr. (CLE) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 44,916 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ceremonial first pitch | Larry Doby | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Television | Fox (United States) MLB International (International) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Joe Buck,Tim McCarver andBob Brenly (Fox) Gary Thorne andKen Singleton (MLB International) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio | CBS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | John Rooney,Jerry Coleman andJeff Torborg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 68th playing of the midsummer classic between theall-stars of theAmerican League (AL) andNational League (NL), the two leagues comprisingMajor League Baseball. The game was held on July 8, 1997, atJacobs Field inCleveland, the home of theCleveland Indians of the American League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 3-1. The game marked the fifth time the All-Star Game was held in Cleveland and first since1981. It was also the first All-Star game held at Jacobs Field, which opened three years earlier.
Players initalics have since been inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Fame.
| Home Plate | Larry Barnett (AL) |
| First Base | Gerry Davis (NL) |
| Second Base | Drew Coble (AL) |
| Third Base | Jeff Kellogg (NL) |
| Left Field | Terry Craft (AL) |
| Right Field | Wally Bell (NL) |
| National League | American League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order | Player | Team | Position | Order | Player | Team | Position |
| 1 | Craig Biggio | Astros | 2B | 1 | Brady Anderson | Orioles | LF |
| 2 | Tony Gwynn | Padres | DH | 2 | Alex Rodriguez | Mariners | SS |
| 3 | Barry Bonds | Giants | LF | 3 | Ken Griffey Jr. | Mariners | CF |
| 4 | Mike Piazza | Dodgers | C | 4 | Tino Martinez | Yankees | 1B |
| 5 | Jeff Bagwell | Astros | 1B | 5 | Edgar Martínez | Mariners | DH |
| 6 | Larry Walker | Rockies | RF | 6 | Paul O'Neill | Yankees | RF |
| 7 | Ken Caminiti | Padres | 3B | 7 | Cal Ripken Jr. | Orioles | 3B |
| 8 | Ray Lankford | Cardinals | CF | 8 | Iván Rodríguez | Rangers | C |
| 9 | Jeff Blauser | Braves | SS | 9 | Roberto Alomar | Orioles | 2B |
| Greg Maddux | Braves | P | Randy Johnson | Mariners | P | ||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| American League | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 3 | 7 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:José Rosado (1-0) LP:Shawn Estes (0-1) Sv:Mariano Rivera (1) Home runs: NL:Javy López (1) AL:Edgar Martínez (1),Sandy Alomar Jr. (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The American League jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning led by a home run by Edgar Martínez of the Seattle Mariners. No one would score after that until the 7th inning when Javy López of the Atlanta Braves would tie the game with a home run of his own. However, in the bottom of the 7th, Bernie Williams of the New York Yankees walked and then Sandy Alomar Jr. of the Cleveland Indians hit a home run to give the American League the lead and the win, as they held on to defeat the National League 3-1. All the runs were driven in and scored by players either born (Alomar, López & Williams) or raised (Martinez) in Puerto Rico. Winning pitcher José Rosado's family roots are also from that island.
The loudest ovation of the All-Star Game, which came early in the player introductions, was reserved for Kenny Lofton, whom the Indians had traded to the Atlanta Braves prior to the start of the 1997 season. Lofton was on the National League roster, but was injured and did not play. Also in the pregame ceremonies,Albert Belle, who was representing theChicago White Sox, was booed for leaving the Indians as a free agent the previous winter.
Unlike past years, the performance ofO Canada, this year by theMcAuley Boys, was not televised. Instead, theFox network, airing its first All-Star Game, went into a commercial break, resulting in angry phone calls from Canadian television viewers. The Canadian National Anthem was later shown ontape delay after the game in the Cleveland area. Country starLeAnn Rimes sang theNational Anthem following the commercial break. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of baseball's breaking of the color barrier, the ceremonial first pitch featured former IndianLarry Doby, the first African-American player to play in the American League.
One of the more colorful moments in All-Star Game history occurred during anat bat withRandy Johnson of theSeattle Mariners pitching andLarry Walker of theColorado Rockies at the plate. The teams of the two formerMontreal Expos teammates had faced each other about one month prior. However, when Johnson started on June 12, Walker chose not to play, explaining that, "I faced Randy one time inspring training and he almost killed me."[2] In this All-Star Game, Walker batted against Johnson, who theatrically threw over his head. Ever adaptable, Walker placed hisbatting helmet backwards and switched sides in the batters' box to standright-handed for one pitch. He ended the at bat by drawing a walk.[3] The incident momentarily drew mirth and laughter from players in bothdugouts,fans and announcers, and comparisons to Johnson pitching againstJohn Kruk in the1993 All-Star Game, in which he also threw over his head.[4] In spite of garnering a reputation of avoiding Johnson,[5] Walker batted .393 (11 hits in 28 at bats) against him in his career,[6] nearly double the rate of all left-handed batters at .199.[7]
Alomar was named MVP of the game, becoming the first player to win the All Star Game MVP award as a member of the host team (Pedro Martínez in 1999 andShane Bieber in 2019 would later win MVP awards in their home ballparks). After the game, Major League Baseball CEOPaul Beeston presented Alomar with the MVP Award in lieu of theCommissioner of Baseball, who would not be named until after thenext All-Star Game, when then-Chairman of the Executive CommitteeBud Selig was officially named Commissioner.
This was the last All-Star Game in which theMilwaukee Brewers were a member of the American League. The Brewers moved to the National League for the 1998 season.
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