2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E National League 0 0 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 6 11 1 American League 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 3 x 7 9 0
Date	July 15, 2003
Venue	U.S. Cellular Field
City	Chicago,Illinois
Managers	Dusty Baker (CHC) Mike Scioscia (ANA)
MVP	Garret Anderson (ANA)
Attendance	47,609
Television	Fox (United States) MLB International (International)
TV announcers	Joe Buck andTim McCarver (Fox) Gary Thorne andKen Singleton (MLB International)
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Dan Shulman andDave Campbell
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The2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 74th midsummer classic between theall-stars of theAmerican League (AL) andNational League (NL), the two leagues constitutingMajor League Baseball, and celebrated the 70th anniversary of theinaugural All-Star Game played inChicago, Illinois in 1933.

The game was held on July 15, 2003 atU.S. Cellular Field, the home of theChicago White Sox of the American League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 7–6, thus awarding an AL team (which was eventually theNew York Yankees)home-field advantage in the2003 World Series. This game was the first All-Star Game to award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winning league, a rule that stemmed from a controversial 7–7 tie inthe previous year's edition. In the days leading up to the game,Fox advertised it with the tagline: "This time it counts." Subsequent editions altered the slogan to "This one counts" to reflect the new method of determining the World Series' home-field advantage; that arrangement ended with the2016 edition, where the AL team (which became the Cleveland Indians, now theCleveland Guardians) also won home-field advantage; the AL would win the next six years, as well as the last four. The winning league had a 9–5 record in the corresponding year's World Series, with the AL going 6–5 in the 11 years it won the All Star Game and the NL going 3–0 in the three years it won the All Star Game.

This All-Star Game marked the seventh All-Star appearance for theNaval Station Great Lakescolor guard fromWaukegan, Illinois, who this year was joined by police officers from theKane County Sheriff's Department who presented theCanadian andAmerican flags in the outfield. Both the five-man color guard and the sheriff's department officers accompanied jazz singer-songwriterMichael Bublé, who sangO Canada, and singer-songwriterVanessa Carlton, who sangThe Star-Spangled Banner accompanied by a celloist. Contemporary Christian music singerAmy Grant performed "God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch. Bublé's performance of "O Canada" was not televised until after the game in the Chicago area, while Carlton's performance was followed by fireworks that shot off the U.S. Cellular Field scoreboard. This was also the last All-Star game to have the stadium's public address announcer announce the all-star rosters and coaches; the game's play-by-play announcer (in this case,Joe Buck) proceeds that custom starting thenext year's game and onwards.

Players initalics have since been inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notes

• ^a Player was unable to play due to injury.
• ^b Player was selected to start, but was unable to play due to injury.
• ^c Player replaced an injured player.
• ^FV Player was selected by the fans through the All-Star Final Vote.

StartersEsteban Loaiza andJason Schmidt were sharp early on, each throwing a scoreless couple of innings to start the game. In the third,Roger Clemens relieved Loaiza and threw a scoreless inning himself.Randy Wolf could not do the same, allowingCarlos Delgado to single homeIchiro Suzuki with the game's first run, and a 1–0 lead for the AL.

The lead would stand until the fifth inning, whenTodd Helton gave the NL the lead with a two-run homer offShigetoshi Hasegawa. The National League would go on to score three more runs that inning, on the strength of a two-run double fromAndruw Jones and an RBI single fromAlbert Pujols, giving the NL a 5–1 lead.

In the sixth,Garret Anderson hit a two-run homer offWoody Williams to bring the AL back within two. Andruw Jones would get one of those runs back the next inning by hitting a solo shot offMark Mulder.Jason Giambi got the run right back with a solo shot offBilly Wagner in the seventh.

In the eighth cameÉric Gagné, who did not blow any saves in the 2003 regular season. The All-Star Game would prove to be the one blemish on his record for the year. Staked to a 6–4 lead, Gagne gave up a one-out double to Garret Anderson, who was replaced by pinch-runnerMelvin Mora.Vernon Wells singled Mora home to make it a one-run game. ThenHank Blalock hit a dramatic, two-out go-ahead home run to put the AL up 7–6.

Keith Foulke came in the ninth to try to earn the save. Foulke closed the door and set the side down 1-2-3. Garret Anderson, who batted 3–4 with a double, home run and two RBI, was awarded the game's MVP honors, a night after winning the 2003 Home Run Derby.

• For the first time since 1978 (Reds:Pete Rose,Joe Morgan, andGeorge Foster) an all-star team had the first three hitters from the same regular season team (Cardinals: Renteria, Edmonds, and Pujols).
• From 1997-July 1998, Jason Schmidt and Esteban Loaiza were teammates in Pittsburgh.
• The honorary captains for the game were Hall of FamersGary Carter (N.L.) andLuis Aparicio (A.L.).
• This was Eric Gagné's only blown save of 2003, as he went a perfect 55 for 55 in save opportunities in the regular season.
• This was the first All-Star Game in which one of the managers was not the manager of the team he had taken to the World Series the year before. NL manager Dusty Baker had led the San Francisco Giants to the NL pennant in 2002, but during the offseason had left the Giants to become manager of the Chicago Cubs. Baker, and not his San Francisco replacement, Felipe Alou, still managed the team.

• All-Star Game Home Page
• Home Run Derby
• Boxscore
• Game Recap

• Major League Baseball All-Star Game
• 2003 Major League Baseball season
• 2003 in Chicago
• Baseball competitions in Chicago
• July 2003 sports events in the United States
• 2003 in sports in Illinois
• Events at Guaranteed Rate Field

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2013