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2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E American League 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 1 0 0 0 7 12 0 National League 0 1 3 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 7 13 0
Date	July 9, 2002
Venue	Miller Park
City	Milwaukee,Wisconsin
Managers	Joe Torre (NYY) Bob Brenly (ARI)
Attendance	41,871
Ceremonial first pitch	Warren Spahn,Hank Aaron,Robin Yount andPaul Molitor
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
← 2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game 2003 →

The2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 73rd playing of themidsummer classic between theall-stars of theAmerican League (AL) andNational League (NL), the two leagues that make upMajor League Baseball. The game was held on July 9, 2002 at Miller Park, now namedAmerican Family Field, inMilwaukee, Wisconsin, the home of theMilwaukee Brewers of the NL. The game controversially ended with a 7–7 tie due to both teams running out of available pitchers after 11 innings.

In an attempt to prevent future ties, a rule change was made in 2003 to award home field advantage in theWorld Series to the league that won the All Star game. In 2017 that rule was eliminated and home field advantage was instead awarded to the team with the higher winning percentage.

Since2022, games can end in a tie after nine innings, with aHome Run Derby-like swing-off consisting of three rounds, three players per league, and three swings per player for their league's home run total to determine the winner of the All-Star Game. The2025 game was the second All-Star Game to officially end in a tie of 6–6 after nine innings, with the National League won the Home Run Derby-like swing-off tiebreaker at 4–3.

No player was awarded theMost Valuable Player (MVP) Award due to the game ending in a tie. The roster selection for the 2002 game marked the inauguralAll-Star Final Vote competition (then known as "The All-Star 30th Man" competition).Johnny Damon andAndruw Jones represented the American and National Leagues as a result of this contest.

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

Notes

• ^a Player declined or was unable to play.
• ^b Player replaced vacant spot on roster.
• ^FV Player was voted onto roster through the All-Star Final Vote.

National League starting pitcherCurt Schilling was sharp early on, striking out three through two innings pitched. In the bottom of the first,Barry Bonds hit a deep fly ball off AL starterDerek Lowe, which looked to be deep enough to be a home run. Instead, center fielderTorii Hunter reached over the wall and caught Bonds' drive, denying the NL an early lead. Bonds playfully picked up Hunter as the NL took the field the next inning.

The NL got on the board in the bottom of the second inning, when aMike Piazza groundout scoredVladimir Guerrero from third base. The NL scored three more runs in the next inning, whenTodd Helton singled homeJimmy Rollins. Barry Bonds got revenge for having his first-inning home run taken away, belting a two-run hit to give the NL a 4–0 lead. The AL finally scored in the fourth, on the strength of aManny Ramírez RBI single.

The AL cut the NL lead in half in the fifth, whenAlfonso Soriano hit a homer offÉric Gagné to cut the lead to 4–2. The NL got a run back withDamian Miller's RBI double to put the NL up 5–2. The AL put together a high-scoring inning in the seventh to take the lead. An RBI groundout fromGarret Anderson, an RBI single fromTony Batista, and a two-run double fromPaul Konerko scored four runs for the AL, giving them a 6–5 lead after their half of the seventh.

The NL regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh, with a two-run single fromLance Berkman, allowingMike Lowell and Damian Miller to score. The AL quickly tied the score in the eighth, withOmar Vizquel's RBI triple. Neither team scored in the ninth and the game went into extra innings.Vicente Padilla andFreddy García each pitched scoreless tenth innings, keeping the game tied.

A serious problem arose at this point, as Padilla and Garcia were the last available pitchers on each team. After a scoreless top of the 11th inning, AL and NL managersJoe Torre andBob Brenly met by the first base dugout with CommissionerBud Selig to discuss the situation.

Selig controversially ruled that if the NL did not score in the bottom of the 11th, the game would be declared a tie.^[1] After the decision was announced over the stadium's public address system, fans loudly booed and jeered, with beer bottles being thrown onto the field, and chants of "Let them play!", "Refund!", "Bud must go!" and "Ripoff!" were heard.^[2] Garcia retired the NL side in the 11th, and the game ended in a 7–7 tie, to further booing and bottle throwing. No MVP award was given.

TheHome Run Derby took place on July 8 with eight players, four from each league, competing to try to hit as many home runs as possible.

• Giambi defeated Konerko in a blast off, similar to penalty shots

• Before the game, Red Sox All-StarsNomar Garciaparra,Johnny Damon andUgueth Urbina unveiled a No. 9 (in honor ofTed Williams, who died a few days earlier) painted into the grass in left field—the position the "Splendid Splinter" patrolled in 19 All-Star Games while playing for Boston. It was also the introduction of the uniform change for the Red Sox, adding a black "9" and black armband on the right sleeve of the jersey, for the remainder of the 2002 season.
• Davey Lopes was not selected as an NL coach, due to him being fired by the Brewers in mid April.
• In the bottom of the first inning, Torii Hunter made a leaping catch of what would have been a home run by Barry Bonds. Initially lauded as a great play, the catch took on extra significance when the game ended in a tie and the play was voted the play of the year onMLB.com. Bonds hit one out later in the game to make sure that Torii couldn't rob him again.
• In Bernie's Dugout above left field, mascots from multiple MLB teams joined Bernie and pushed each other down the slide every time a home run was made.
• When Freddy García batted in the 11th inning, he wore a Chicago White Sox helmet; coincidentally, he was traded to the White Sox two years later.
• With the American League having five shortstops and one second baseman, Omar Vizquel came off the bench to play second base.
• After the first out was recorded in the bottom of the 11th, public address announcer Robb Edwards announced the decision that if the National League did not score, the game would end in a tie. They did not, and it did. When the game was called, the fans started theBad News Bears chant of "Let them Play!, Let them Play!" to no avail.
• Joe Buck and Tim McCarver stated that if the American League had won,Paul Konerko would have been named MVP, and if the National League had won,Damian Miller would have been named MVP.
• Throughout the game, both managers wore microphones to converse with Buck, McCarver, and each other.

General

Specific

• All-Star Game Home Page
• Home Run Derby
• Boxscore and Game Recap
• Sport Illustrated Recap
• ESPN.com Recap

• Major League Baseball All-Star Game
• 2002 Major League Baseball season
• Baseball competitions in Milwaukee
• Major League Baseball controversies
• 2002 in sports in Wisconsin
• 2000s in Milwaukee
• July 2002 sports events in the United States

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