Tonight, baseball's best gather together for the All-Star Game. My Red Sox will be well represented, with 5 players selected, including two (Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez) elected to start. In honor of the greatest exhibition game in sports, I decided to list my choices for the Top 5 Greatest All-Star Game performances by a Red Sox player:
5. Roger Clemens, 1986
1986 Donruss Highlights #26 Roger Clemens |
3 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
Talk about setting the bar high! Roger started the Mid-summer Classic in 1986 and pitched 3 perfect innings. Among the 9 batters he faced were 5 future Hall of Famers (Tony Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, Gary Carter, Mike Schmidt, and Ozzie Smith). He won the award as the game's MVP.
4. Carl Yastrzemski, 1970
2017 Topps - All-Time All-Stars #43 Carl Yastrzemski |
4-6, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI
Yaz became the first Red Sox player to win the All-Star Game MVP in 1970 despite playing for the losing team. He played all 12 innings in the game best remembered for Pete Rose running over Ray Fosse.
3. J.D. Drew, 2008
2008 Topps Updates & Highlights #UH221 J.D. Drew |
2-4, 1 BB, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB
The longest All-Star game in history had an amazing 4 Red Sox players elected to start, yet it was reserve OF Drew who took home the MVP award. J.D. entered into the game in the 7th inning and swatted a 2 run homer run to tie the game. I'm giving Drew bonus points here because he did this at Yankee Stadium, which I'm sure irked a lot of Yankee fans.
2. Pedro Martinez, 1999
2017 Topps - All-Time All-Stars #11 Pedro Martinez |
2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 K
The game was held at Fenway Park, and was most remembered for the the pre-game ceremony honoring the All-Century Team, with legend Ted Williams being surrounded by awe-struck All-Stars. Once the game started, Pedro set the tone by striking out all three batters in the first inning, then striking out two more in the second inning. The only base runner he had, Matt Williams, reached on an error by Roberto Alomar and was caught stealing for the final out of the inning.
1. Ted Williams, 1946
1974 Laughlin All-Star Games #46 Ted Williams (Field Day) |
4-4, 1 BB, 2 HR, 4 R, 5 RBI
The All-Star Game MVP Award was named after Williams in 2002, and it's easy to see why. This was the first All-Star Game after WWII ended, and Ted's first after 3 years serving as a pilot. Once again, Fenway was the home to arguably the greatest All-Star game performance ever. Now that starters only play a few innings, it's doubtful we'll ever see a stat line like this again.
Great list. I was thinking Fred Lynn's grand slam... but then I remembered he was with the Angels by then.
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