1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

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 0 3 7 0
Date	July 8, 1997
Venue	Jacobs Field
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Managers	Bobby Cox (ATL) Joe Torre (NYY)
MVP	Sandy Alomar, Jr. (CLE)
Attendance	44,916
First pitch	Larry Doby
Television	Fox
TV announcers	Joe Buck, Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly
Radio	CBS
Radio announcers	John Rooney, Jerry Coleman and Jeff Torborg

The 1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 68th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 8, 1997 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio, the home of the Cleveland Indians of the American League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 3-1.

Rosters

Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Game

Umpires

Starting lineups

Game summary

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, Sandy Alomar, Jr. of the Cleveland Indians hit a two-run home run to give the American League the lead and the win, as they held on to defeat the National League 3-1 and Alomar became the first player in All-Star Game history to win All-Star Game MVP as a member of the host team.

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 the Chicago White Sox, was booed for leaving the Indians as a free agent the previous winter.

Unlike past years, the performance of O Canada, this year by the McAuley Boys, was not televised. Instead, the Fox 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 on tape delay after the game in the Cleveland area. Country star LeAnn Rimes sang the National Anthem following the commercial break. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of baseball's breaking of the color barrier, the ceremonial first pitch featured former Indian Larry Doby, the first African-American player to play in the American League.

After the game, Major League Baseball CEO Paul Beeston presented Alomar with the All-Star Game MVP Award in lieu of the Commissioner of Baseball, who would not be named until after the next All-Star Game, when then-Chairman of the Executive Committee Bud Selig was officially named Commissioner.

This game was the last time the Milwaukee Brewers were represented as a team from the American League. The Brewers switched over to the National League for the 1998 season as a result of the expansion franchises in Arizona and Tampa.

Footnotes and references

External links

• Baseball Almanac
• Baseball-Reference.com