Okay, so maybe Cal Ripken did deserve to be at the All-Star game in Seattle. Sure, he's an old man who should've put down his bat and glove a couple of seasons ago but at Safeco Field he stepped up to the plate and delivered when it counted. In the third inning of the game, Ripken hit the first pitch he saw and sent it soaring over the center field fence to become the oldest guy to hit a homer in an All-Star Game.
Ripken's homer earned him MVP of the game which was won 4-1 by the American League and was actually kinda dull. All the action came in the sixth inning when they stopped the game to have a big lovefest for Ripken and Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres who are both retiring after this season. Both players were given awards for their long careers in baseball. Once everyone was finished brown nosing Ripken and Gwynn, they got around to playing baseball again. Derek Jeter of the Yankees and Magglio Ordonez of the White Sox hit back-to-back homers and the American League was on their way to victory.
The funniest moment of the game came a few moments later. National League third base coach, Tommy Lasorda, got nailed by a broken bat from Vladimir Guerrero and went crashing to the ground. Lasorda was okay but the rumble of the fall must have measured at least 5.0 on the Richter Scale.
The All-Star classic also highlighted the international flavor of Major League Baseball. The first hit came from Japanese star, Ichiro, the winning pitcher was Freddie Garcia, who's from Venezuela, the losing pitcher was Chan Ho Park of Korea and Kazuhiro Sasaki of Japan picked up the save.
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