2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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| Date | July 10, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Safeco Field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Seattle, Washington | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Cal Ripken, Jr. (BAL) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 47,364 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First pitch | Luis Aparicio, Orlando Cepeda, Ferguson Jenkins, Juan Marichal and Tony Pérez | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Television | Fox | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Joe Buck and Tim McCarver | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Charley Steiner and Dave Campbell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 72nd 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 10, 2001 at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington, home of the Seattle Mariners of the American League. The American League defeated the National League, 4–1. This was Cal Ripken, Jr.'s 19th and final All-Star Game. It was also the final All-Star Game for San Diego Padres legendary right fielder Tony Gwynn.
Game
Umpires
| Home Plate | Dana DeMuth |
| First Base | Dale Scott |
| Second Base | Jim Joyce |
| Third Base | Jerry Layne |
| Left Field | Ron Kulpa |
| Right Field | Tony Randazzo |
Starting lineups
| National League | American League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order | Player | Team | Position | Order | Player | Team | Position |
| 1 | Luis Gonzalez | Diamondbacks | CF | 1 | Ichiro Suzuki | Mariners | CF |
| 2 | Todd Helton | Rockies | 1B | 2 | Alex Rodriguez | Rangers | SS-3B-SS |
| 3 | Barry Bonds | Giants | LF | 3 | Manny Ramírez | Red Sox | LF |
| 4 | Sammy Sosa | Cubs | RF | 4 | Bret Boone | Mariners | 2B |
| 5 | Larry Walker | Rockies | DH | 5 | Juan González | Indians | RF |
| 6 | Mike Piazza | Mets | C | 6 | John Olerud | Mariners | 1B |
| 7 | Chipper Jones | Braves | 3B | 7 | Edgar Martínez | Mariners | DH |
| 8 | Jeff Kent | Giants | 2B | 8 | Cal Ripken, Jr. | Orioles | 3B-SS-3B |
| 9 | Rich Aurilia | Giants | SS | 9 | Iván Rodríguez | Rangers | C |
| Randy Johnson | Diamondbacks | P | Roger Clemens | Yankees | P | ||
Game summary
In the first inning, Alex Rodriguez elected to switch to third base so Cal Ripken, Jr. could play his original shortstop position, which the crowd applauded. The move allowed Ripken to set the record for most MLB All-star appearances at shortstop (15). Seattle's own Ichiro Suzuki gave his hometown fans something to cheer for early, when in the first, he singled off starter (and former Mariner) Randy Johnson, and then stole second. Randy Johnson stranded him at second to hold the AL scoreless in the first inning. Ripken followed this with a solo home run in the third inning, which also got a standing ovation, to put the AL up 1–0.
The AL scored one more run in the fifth when Iván Rodríguez singled home Jason Giambi to make it 2–0. Ryan Klesko hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to one in the sixth, scoring Jeff Kent from third. In the sixth, with the score 2–1, Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordóñez hit back to back home runs off Jon Lieber to extend the AL's lead to 4–1.
That ended the scoring for the night. Mariner closer Kazuhiro Sasaki retired the side in order in the ninth to secure the win for the AL. Cal Ripken was awarded the game's MVP, becoming the fourth player ever to win two All-Star Game MVP awards.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||
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| National League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||
| American League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | x | 4 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||
| WP: Freddy García (1-0) LP: Chan Ho Park (0-1) Sv: Kazuhiro Sasaki (1) Home runs: NL: None AL: Cal Ripken, Jr. (1), Magglio Ordóñez (1), Derek Jeter (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Home Run Derby
| Safeco Field, Seattle—N.L. 41, A.L. 25 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Round 1 | Semis | Finals | Totals |
| Luis Gonzalez | Diamondbacks | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| Sammy Sosa | Cubs | 3 | 8 | 2 | 13 |
| Jason Giambi | A's | 14 | 6 | – | 20 |
| Barry Bonds | Giants | 7 | 3 | – | 10 |
| Bret Boone | Mariners | 3 | – | – | 3 |
| Todd Helton | Rockies | 2 | – | – | 2 |
| Alex Rodriguez | Rangers | 2 | – | – | 2 |
| Troy Glaus | Angels | 0 | – | – | 0 |
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| 1 | Jason Giambi | 6 | |||||||
| 4 | Sammy Sosa | 8 | |||||||
| 4 | Sammy Sosa | 2 | |||||||
| 3 | Luis Gonzalez | 6 | |||||||
| 2 | Barry Bonds | 3 | |||||||
| 3 | Luis Gonzalez | 5 | |||||||
Trivia
- Cal Ripken, Jr., most famous during his career as a shortstop, was elected as a third baseman to start the game. Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez was elected to start at short. However, Rodriguez insisted that Ripken play shortstop for the first inning. American League manager Joe Torre agreed and allowed the change. When fans noticed the fielding change, they gave both players a standing ovation.[1]
- This was the first All-Star Game to be awarded by Commissioner Bud Selig after being named to that post.
- American League starting pitcher Roger Clemens was booed in the pregame ceremonies for striking out 15 Mariners in a one-hit shutout in the previous season's playoffs. Also in the pregame ceremony, the Fort Lewis color guard provided the colors presentation, accompanied by Tacoma and Everett, Washington high school students who presented the flags in the outfield. After Diana Krall and Mýa sang the Canadian and U.S. national anthems, respectively, Tony Pérez, as the only link to the 1979 All-Star Game, the only other All-Star Game in Seattle, joined the ceremonial first pitch ceremonies.
Footnotes and references
- ↑ Mccarron, Anthony (July 14, 2008). "Alex Rodriguez fondly recalls 2001 All-Star tribute to Cal Ripken Jr.". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 31, 2009.