Major League Baseball All-Star Game Records
The first MLB All-Star Game was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 6, 1933. Babe Ruth hit the first All-Star Game home run, leading the A.L. to a 4-2 win over the N.L.
Here are several MLB All-Star Game records which may peak your interest.
Most All-Star Games played: 24 (Three players)
1) Stan Musial
2) Willie Mays
3) Hank Aaron
Most All-Star Game At Bats: 75, Willie Mays
Most All-Star Game Hits: 23, Willie Mays (.307 All-Star Game batting average)
Highest All-Star Game career Batting Average (minimum, 5 games): .500, Charlie Gehringer (10 for 20)
Most All-Star Game Runs Scored: 20,Willie Mays
Most All-Star Game Stolen Bases: 6, Willie Mays
Most All-Star Game Home Runs: 6, Stan Musial
Most All-Star Game RBI: 12, Ted Williams
Number of batters who led-off an All-Star Game with a home run: 5
1) Frankie Frisch, N.L., July 10, 1934
2) Lou Boudreau, A.L., July 6, 1942
3) Willie Mays, N.L., July 13, 1965
4) Joe Morgan, N.L., July 19, 1977
5) Bo Jackson, A.L., July 11, 1989
Number of Grand Slams in All-Star Game history: 1, Freddy Lynn, A.L., 1983.
First inside-the-park home run in an All-Star Game: Ichiro Suzuki, 2007.
Most home runs in one All-Star Game: 2, five players
1) Arky Vaughan, N.L., July 8, 1941
2) Ted Williams, A.L., July 6, 1946
3) Al Rosen, A.L., July 13, 1954
4) Willie McCovey, N.L., July 23, 1969
5) Gary Carter, N.L., August 9, 1981
Most All-Star Game Total Bases: 40, Stan Musial and Willie Mays
Best single All-Star Game performance, position player: Ted Williams, July 9, 1946. Williams slugged two home runs, lashed a pair of singles, and drew a walk, for ten total bases.
Only All-Star Game steal of home: Pie Traynor, on the front end of a double-steal with Mel Ott, 1934.
Most career strikeouts in All-Star Games: 17, Mickey Mantle
Most career doubles in All-Star Games: 7, Dave Winfield
Most career triples in All-Star Games: 3, Willie Mays and Brooks Robinson
Most career All-Star Game Bases on Balls: 11, Ted Williams
Most times grounding into double plays, career: 3, Joe DiMaggio and Pete Rose
Most career All-Star Game Wins: 3, Lefty Gomez
Most career All-Star Game Losses: 2, six pitchers
1) Mort Cooper
2) Claude Passeau
3) Whitey Ford
4) Luis Tiant
5) Jim “Catfish” Hunter
6) Dwight Gooden
Most Career All-Star Game Balks, 2, Dwight Gooden
Most All-Star Game Innings Pitched, Career: 19, Don Drysdale
Most All-Star Game Strikeouts: Pitcher, Career: 19 Don Drysdale
Most All-Star Game Innings Pitched, one game: 6, Lefty Gomez, July 8, 1935
Most hits given up in one inning in an All-Star Game: Tom Glavine, 1st inning of 1992 All-Star Game, surrendered seven consecutive hits. Allowed nine hits overall, the most hits given up by one pitcher in an All-Star Game.
Most consecutive strikeouts by a pitcher in one game: 5, Carl Hubbell, A.L., 1934, and Fernando Valenzuela, N.L., 1986.
Most runs allowed in a single All-Star Game: 7, Atlee Hammaker, N.L., 1983. All 7 runs were scored in the 3rd inning.
First player ever selected to an All-Star Game as a write-in candidate by fans: Rico Carty, 1970
First time the Designated Hitter rule was used in an All-Star Game: 1989
Largest Attendance for an All-Star Game: 72,086, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, August 9, 1981 (This game was played on a Sunday, the only time an All-Star Game was played on a weekend.)
Smallest Attendance for an All-Star Game: 25,556, Braves Field, Boston, July 7, 1936
Longest Game By Innings: 15, Anaheim Stadium, July 11, 1967 (N.L. won the game, 2-1)
Shortest Game By Innings: 5, Shibe Park, Philadelphia, July 8, 1952 – Rain. (N.L. won the game, 3-2)
Fewest players used in an All-Star Game, one team: 11, A.L., July 6, 1942
Fewest players used in an All-Star Game, both teams: 27, A.L. (15), N.L. (12), July 6, 1938
Shortest 9-Inning Game, By Time: 1 Hour, 53 Minutes, Sportsman’s Park, St. Louis, July 9, 1940, (N.L. won 4-0).
Number of All-Star Games played: 83, the N.L. has 43 wins, the A.L. has 38 wins, and there have been two ties.
Sources:
Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball-Almanac.com
Soundtrack for Baseball: July, 2012
This is my third offering in a sporadic series in which I mix baseball analysis with some of my favorite music artists. Let’s call this one “The Blues Edition.” (Please ignore any commercials that may appear. For “Full Screen,” click the icon on the lower, right-hand corner of each video.)
The relationship between the analysis and the songs is tenuous at best, but it amuses me nevertheless (as do bright, shiny objects and fire trucks.)
Here were my offerings for April and May (June somehow slipped by me unnoticed.)
The point of these posts is to create a video-blog of the highlights (and low lights) of the baseball season. I’ll leave it to other bloggers to address this season’s stats and stories in a more traditional fashion.
So let’s begin.
Has any PHEENOM ever made such a huge impact in his first full season as Mike Trout has done this season? The list of players who were great right out of the gate, and who went on to have fantastic careers, is not a very long one. That list would include, for example, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Robinson, Alex Rodriguez and a handful of others.
Add Mike Trout to that list. Sure, it’s true that Trout’s future is yet to be written, but other than the possibility of injury, there is no reason to think that we’re not looking at the next Stan Musial or Mickey Mantle.
All Trout has done so far is hit a league-leading .351 to go along with a circuit-pacing 78 runs scored in just 80 games. Oh, and did I mention he’s also stolen the most bases in the A.L. (35) while being caught an absurdly low 3 times? How about that 180 OPS+, also the best in the junior league.
The fact is, pitchers have to learn to stop “Messin’ with the Kid. Here’s a direct appeal to MLB pitchers from Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, so listen up.
Meanwhile, up in New York, the Yankees have added both age and depth to their first-place team by trading for Seattle’s most famous icon (and, no, I don’t mean Starbucks.)
Ichiro Suzuki has been a fixture in the Mariners outfield since he burst on the Major League scene in 2001.
But after 11 1/2 years in Seattle the former MVP has finally been granted his wish to play for a team that could well find itself in the World Series this year.
Ichiro has accumulated over 2,500 hits in his MLB career along with a career batting average of .322. The ten time All-Star and future Hall of Famer has won 10 Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and has led the A.L. in hits seven times. He has been a one-of-a-kind player in his generation.
Yet Ichiro is also 38-years old, and clearly isn’t the player he once was. His OPS+ of 82 this season is unimpressive, while his batting average is just .261. Though it’s true he still has some value, it is clear he is no longer able to do “The Things That {he} Used To Do.”
I’ll let the immortal Stevie Ray Vaughan spell it out for you.
I wasn’t sure he could do it again.
I’m talking about the Tigers Uber-Ace, 29-year old Justin Verlander. Last year, he won both the Cy Young award and the MVP award. It was perhaps asking too much for a repeat performance, yet Verlander is not far off last year’s pace.
Granted, Verlander won’t finish this season with a 24-5 record, as he did in 2011. His record currently stands at 11-7, but he has pitched better than that. Verlander leads the A.L. in innings pitched, complete games, and fewest hits surrendered per nine innings. His ERA is just .23 higher than last year. He is second in his league in strikeouts, starts and WHIP, while also leading the league in WAR for pitchers.
Verlander is a polished pitcher with a solid arsenal, but his bread and butter pitch is an old-fashioned 100 mile per hour fastball. His is the ultimate power arm. His nickname should be the “Smoking Gun,” ’cause that’s what he brings to the table.
So let’s dedicate this next song, “Smoking Gun,” performed by the smooth as silk Robert Cray, in honor of Verlander’s awesome right arm.
When we were kids, our best pitcher would always pitch the most games. Sounds logical, right? In the Majors, of course, things are much different. Sure, it’s true that a relief pitcher will probably appear in more games than a typical starting pitcher. That’s the nature of the job. But, apparently, it doesn’t necessarily follow that even your best relief pitcher will lead the staff in appearances.
That honor is often enjoyed by the specialist of all specialists, the situational lefty.
He doesn’t have to be particularly good, mind you, just left-handed.
Situational lefties are the summer school teachers of the bullpen. They’re willing to do the job, and there just ain’t that many others to choose from with their particular mix of modest self-esteem and masochism.
Which explains (though it doesn’t excuse) why lefty Tim Byrdak of the Mets leads the entire Major Leagues in appearances (as of August 1st.)
In 55 appearances, Byrdak has managed to accumulate a paltry 30.1 (not entirely effective) innings pitched. His ERA on the season is 4.45. Apparently, his “situations” have been a bit more challenging for Byrdak than he would like.
But once a Major League manager gets an idea in his head, or develops an irrational affinity for a particular player, there’s just no turning back. So manager Terry Collins runs the 38-year old Byrdak out there about two out of every three games (actually, Byrdak has recently missed a couple of games with a sore knee) and hopes for the best.
Good baseball strategy? Who cares. It’s what’s de rigueur these days in Baseball Land. Obviously, it’s simply impossible to love mediocrity too much. Does it backfire sometimes? Sure, love is like that.
So here’s an ode to loving someone or something too much by the late, great, blind Canadian blues artist, Jeff Healey.
Someday, I’d like to meet an actual Padres fan.
The San Diego Padres were one of baseball’s expansion teams in 1969. Forty-three years after their founding, not only have they not won a World Championship, but they’ve won only one World Series game. (Andy Hawkins beat the Tigers’ Dan Petry, October 10, 1984, 5-3.)
They’ve also never reached the 100-win plateau in any season, topping out at 98 wins in 1998. In fact, they’ve topped 90 wins in a season just four times since the first man walked on the moon.
During their existence, they have lost 520 more games than they’ve won.
Their only league MVP winner, Ken Caminiti in 1996, turned out to be a steroids user, was arrested in a Houston hotel room for possession of crack cocaine, and died prematurely at age 41.
If that’s not enough to give a baseball fan the blues, I don’t know what is.
Sure, other MLB teams have suffered long droughts of futility, but, other than Tony Gwynn, can you give me one reason the Padres haven’t been baseball’s most superfluous team?
The question is, “How Many More Years” will the Padres offer so little in the way of hope and success to their (presumably loyal) fans?
Perhaps it’s time for a little Howlin’ Wolf as an antidote to this historically uncompelling franchise.
With that, my friends, we come to the end of this edition of a “Soundtrack for Baseball.” I hope you enjoyed it. We may do it again in another month.