2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

2001 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 1 0 0 0 1 3 1 American League 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 x 4 8 0
Date	July 10, 2001
Venue	Safeco Field
City	Seattle, Washington
Managers	National League - Bobby Valentine (NYM) American League - Joe Torre (NYY)
MVP	Cal Ripken, Jr. (BAL)
Attendance	47,364
First pitch	Luis Aparicio, Orlando Cepeda, Ferguson Jenkins, Juan Marichal and Tony Perez
Television	Fox
TV announcers	Joe Buck and Tim McCarver
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Charley Steiner and Dave Campbell
< 2000	Major League Baseball All-Star Game	2002 >

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.

Game

Umpires

Starting lineups

& Alex Rodriguiez and Cal Ripken Jr. were selected to play SS and 3B respectively but Alex insisted that Cal play at SS for the first inning

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.

Home Run Derby

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 20 Seattle Mariners in 1986. 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 Mya sang the Canadian and U.S. national anthems, respectively, Tony Perez, 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

External links

• All-Star Game site
• Lineups, boxscore, and more