1995 ALL-STAR GAME
The 1995 Mid-West Winter League All-Star Game was held on Saturday Night, October 14th, 1995 in the home of the Detroit Crime.
“Special recognition is given here to Brandon Hogan & Greg “Sarge” Stauffer for taking on the past All-Star Games Project as they will be playing these out and catching up not only the MWWL but some past MWBL All-Star Games. Thank you very much Brandon & Sarge for helping out with these projects. I hope you enjoy the Mid-West Winter & Mid-West Baseball League as much as we have done for the past 25 Years!”
We are back for another MWWL all-star classic! After finally breaking through in 1994, the American League was our gracious host for the 1995 version. Both teams brought out the same starters as the 1994 game as Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson go head-to-head. Johnson wanted to forget about his disaster to start the game last year and get the National League back on the winning side. If you’re a pitcher in an all-star game, it is best if no one remembers you pitched. Well, that was the case here for the first two innings. A combination of Johnson and Orel Hershiser kept the AL bats at bay while Maddux and Denny Neagle did the same for the NL bats.
Kevin Brown pitched a scoreless 3rd for the AL and the NL countered with Jim Abbott. After a Chuck Knoblauch ground out, Abbott walked Barry Larkin. Tony Gwynn followed the walk up with a lazy fly ball to center leaving 1 on with 2 down. Up steps Barry Bonds and he slapped a looper into right field. Mayhem ensues as Jay Buhner and Craig Biggio collide in the outfield. Bonds held at first and Larkin running on contact made it all the way around to make the game 1-0. Such an unlikely play, especially in an all-star game. Buhner and Biggio went down and had to be removed from the game. Sometimes an exhibition game can prove dangerous, luckily the injuries are minor.
In the 4th, Tim Wakefield gave up a double to Jim Thome but stranded him to maintain the early 1-0 lead for the AL. The bottom half allowed the AL to pad the lead a little bit as Julian Tavarez started the inning off with two ground balls to Cal Ripken courtesy of Edgar Martinez and Ivan Rodriguez. Now with 2 out and no one on, Tavarez walked Fred McGriff and then hit Dante Bichette. Bichette becomes the 3rd player in the game to have to be removed. The pitch off his elbow was just too much for him to be able to continue playing. The AL bench was NOT happy as Tavarez was clearly losing control of his pitches. With 2 on, while facing Knoblauch a pitch went off Mike Piazza’s glove to allow the runners to move up. Yikes, a passed ball at this point is not what you need. The NL paid for that mistake as the next pitch was blooped into right allowing both McGriff and the pinch runner Larry Walker to score. 3-0 AL.
The game saw no more scoring over the next 3 innings but there was some action. In the bottom of the 5th, the AL tried to extend their lead as Bonds wanted to score on a Martinez hit but Reggie L. Sanders came up with a flamethrower to keep it 3-0. Don’t worry, Sanders did more. He threw out a 2nd runner at home in the bottom of the 7th as Marquis Grissom did his best to get a sac fly, but John Valentin got gunned down for a double play. As we got to the 8th with a 3-0 ballgame still.
Lou Whitaker led the inning off as Norm Charlton came in to hold the game in check. After a debate in the dugout, about whether someone should bat for Sweet Lou, it was decided there weren’t any options. Biggio had to be removed and Lou is the only guy who can play 2B. Lou said to the coaching staff, don’t worry I may be in my twilight years but I came to play. BOOM, solo shot! 3-1 now as the NL tried to crawl back. Charlton got the next two out with ease and the ball was turned over to Hideo Nomo to face Wade Boggs. On a broken bat, the ball was dropping fast but Grissom made a diving play to end the inning.
The bottom half of the inning saw Larry Walker get hit, which resulted in him being the 4th player to need to be removed from the game for injury. Something was in the water because I don’t know if that has ever happened before. This put the AL in a tough spot as there was no one who plays the outfield on a daily basis left, so they had to just throw Mike Lansing in right and hope for the best. Nomo remained on the mound to start the 9th and he got a strikeout of Rafael Palmeiro but then walked Thome. Ryan Klesko stepped up to pinch hit but flew out to Bonds in center. This brought the NL to the brink with 2 outs. The AL decided it was time for Tom Henke to get the final out as he faced Frank Thomas. A ground ball to the left side of the infield saw an easy 6-4 FC. It is all over and that is 2 in a row for the AL! A quiet game as a whole but Chuck Knoblauch earned the MVP honors with his 2-run single in the 4th that padded the lead for good.
FINAL SCORE: American League 3 – National League 1
All-TIME RECORD: American League 20 – National League 6
1995 ALL-STAR GAME MVP – Chuck Knoblauch – Single & 2 RBIs in the game.
