1998 ALL-STAR GAME
The 1998 Mid-West Winter League All-Star Game was held on Saturday Night, November 7th, 1998 in the home of the Hollywood Vampires.
“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!”
A strikeout of A-Rod was followed by a walk to Bonds, loading them up with just one gone. But Wakefield knuckled down and got Sosa on a wicked knuckler followed by a flyout of Albert Belle. The A.L. was threatened by nothing happening. Kevin Brown kept the A.L. Streak of good pitching from 1997 going when he took the N.L. Down 1,2, 3. Andy Benes appeared to do the same with a quick two outs in the top of the 2nd, but a single to Edgar Martinez and a double to Ivan Rodriguez put runners in scoring position. With first base open they elected to pitch to Olerud who hit a dying quail to rf. The A.L. was on the board 1-0. A walk to A-Rod loaded the bases with two down and Barry Bonds at the plate. Seeing blood in the water the 1998 MVP Winner put all he had into one, only to see it fall harmlessly into the glove of Vlad Guerrero in the deepest part of Centerfield.
The bottom of the 2nd played similarly to the top half Pete Harnisch made quick work of the first two batters, But a bloop single by Juan Gonzalez followed by a walk to Biggio put the N.L. in scoring position. Chipper Jones made sure to plate that run with a single to Bonds. It was further cementing his brooding personality seeing someone come through in the clutch. Pinch hitter David Justice also couldn’t come up in the clutch hitting a weak grounder to the pitcher for the 3rd out.
Both pitching staffs shut things down until the top of the 5th. Ligtenberg who was called upon in the 4th when a mini uprising had started got the first out of the inning, but a walk to Sosa brought the manager out … again … coming in to relieve Ligtenberg is Esteban Yan … the right-hander.
The N.L. was aware of Sosa’s speed and replaced Piazza behind the dish with Jason Kendall. It didn’t matter to Sammy who took second easily on the first pitch by Yan. The N.L. elected to intentionally walk Walker with first now open. Yan almost picked Sosa off second but issued a free pass to Rolen to load the bases with just one out.
A fly ball to Guerrero set up what should be a heck of a play at the plate for the tagging Sosa. But Vlad somehow forgot how many outs there were and harmlessly tossed the ball back toward the infield. How could that have happened everyone screamed. (in full truthfulness I was using my touch screen on my laptop and hit hold throw instead of throw home due to my big fat stupid thumb…. It’s why I waited so long to move from Blackberry to Android, stupid fat fingers) The A.L. led 2-1 and had a strong stable of arms left to throw.
Veres, M, Jackson, and Pedro did their jobs. Omar Daal looked to follow suit getting the first two outs, but back-to-back doubles by Paul O’Neil and Frank Thomas pinch hitting tied the game at 2 in the seventh.
In the top of the 9th, the N.L. went to Randy Johnson, Which in All-Star games is always a hold-your-breath scenario. After getting the first out he yielded a walk to Sosa. He got Walker to strike out looking. With two down the A.L. appeared to get conservative not stealing Sosa, Sosa upset by this took things into his own hands and made what should have been a disaster of a mistake. A pinch-hit single by Cirillo should have put a runner in scoring position but Sosa ignoring the sign went straight to 3rd. The problem is you don’t run on the arm of Bernie Williams who hosed down Sosa easily.
How often do you see a great defensive gem lead to an offensive one? Bernie Williams pumped from this throw to third and led off the bottom of the 9th with an infield single. A quick swipe of 2nd base put the winning run on 2nd. Tino Martinez bunted trying to get Williams to 3rd. Williams was off on contact, but unfortunately, the bunt went right to the pitcher Urbina who without hesitation fired to third to get Williams. What was the N.L. skipper thinking? Williams can score from 2nd on a single why bunt him over?
The N.L. now was desperate to end the game, bringing in Manny Ramirez to pinch hit, the last positional player on the bench. Manny watched strike three go by and the N.L. was in trouble defensively for the extra innings. With no other players available, Manny had to play third base.
The N.L. stayed with Randy Johnson bracing for what may be a long affair. Randy was ready for the bar apparently. The A.L. went to their lone positional player to pinch hit for Urbina, and the skipper was glad he had saved him. For Andres Galarraga greeted a Johnson fastball with a warm hi-ho and deposited it over the left field fence to a stunned Vlad, still unsure how many outs there were. The A.L. went with 20-game winner Rocket Roger to finish off the potential win. With Randy Johnson due up to lead off and no one else left to bat, Al
Leiter came strolling to the plate carrying lumber. Rocket immediately wastes no time making a mockery of that move with a swinging K. Vlad Guerrero trying to make amends for his boneheaded play of earlier took one deep for a one-out single to left center. With a runner on base, Roberto Alomar came to the plate. Despite dealing with injuries he still battled and hit .273 on the season. Batting from the left side Rocket got him to roll over on a changeup, right to Easley who easily turned the DP ending what was a true instant classic.
FINAL SCORE: American League 3 – National League 2 (10 Innings)
All-TIME RECORD: American League 22 – National League 7
1998 ALL-STAR GAME MVP – Andres Galarraga – Game Winning Home Run in the top of the 10th Inning.
