The first All-Star game in Major League Baseball was held on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Since then, many a notable moment has marked the game known as the Midsummer Classic. This year’s game will be played on July 11 at T-Mobile Park, which is the home of the Seattle Mariners. The game is sure to feature its fair share of great plays, and fans can watch to see if any of those match up with these memorable moments from past MLB All-Star games.
July 8, 1941: The 1941 season is widely remembered for the exploits of New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio’s record-setting 56-game hitting streak during the 1941 season still stands, but that year’s All-Star Game featured heroics from another Hall of Famer. The game had the first walk-off homerun in Midsummer Classic history thanks to Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams, whose three-run blast gave the American League a 7-5 win.
July 9, 2002: It didn’t take long for fans to be dazzled during the 2002 All-Star Game. With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds drove a ball that seemed destined to land beyond the wall in center field. But Minnesota Twins center fielder Torii Hunter had something else in mind, leaping at the wall to rob Bonds of a homerun. The catch remains one of the more memorable grabs in Midsummer Classic history.
July 13, 1999: Future Hall of Famers combined to make the 1999 All-Star Game an instant classic, though several of those vaunted ballplayers may not remember the game too fondly. Pitching in front of his own fans at Fenway Park in Boston, Red Sox legend and future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez struck out five of the six batters he faced. Among the victims of Pedro’s dominance were Barry Larkin, Larry Walker and Jeff Bagwell, each of whom would ultimately be enshrined in Cooperstown.
July 17, 1979: Strikeouts, homeruns and unbelievable catches might stand out in All-Star Game history, but in 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Dave Parker made the game memorable thanks to his prolific arm. Parker earned the game’s Most Valuable Player honor after throwing out Jim Rice at third base in the seventh inning and then taking it one step further an inning later, keeping the game tied with an incredible throw from deep right field to nab Brian Downing at home.
July 13, 1971: Tape measure homeruns were a hallmark of the Hall of Fame career of Reggie Jackson. But in 1971 Reggie’s career was still very much in its early stages. The 1971 Midsummer Classic was just the second of Jackson’s 14 All-Star Game appearances, but it might have produced his most memorable Midsummer Classic moment when he hit a ball onto the roof of Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The ball traveled an estimated 520 feet, going so far that it was not even in the frame on the television broadcast by the time it officially departed the stadium.
