Notable Moments in MLB All-Star Game History

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

570-326-9551 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.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

“The Book of Pet Love & Loss: Words of Comfort & Wisdom from Remarkable People” by Sara Bader c.2023, Simon & Schuster

$22.00

240 pages

Goodbyes are never easy. Even if it’s just “So long!” or “See ya later,” and there’ll be other times together, your mind lingers on the fun you’ve just had. Call you tomorrow, hurry back, don’t be a stranger, the sting is minimal. But “The Book of Pet Love & Loss” by Sara Bader may help when “Goodbye” is forever.

Eleven years ago, when her elderly cat died, Sara Bader looked for solace in a book she couldn’t find, “in or out of print.” She needed a small collection of quotations, one that “documented... heartache over the loss of... cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, horses, mice, frogs, and other an- imals...” Because what she wanted didn’t exist, she began to fill the gap.

Falling in love with a pet is a natural, delightful event, a sometimes surprising, life-changing thing. Said Andy Warhol, “I just got a dog and I think I’m falling in love with him.” Rolling Stone Keith Richards had a white mouse named Gladys when he was small, and he took her to school with him. John Steinbeck’s “setter pup” destroyed a manuscript one evening – two months’ work gone, and Steinbeck accepted it with grace.

Sadly, though, we know, the minute we bring home a tiny fluff-ball, that we will probably outlive it. With a goldfish, Fred Rogers taught that lesson to his youngest viewers. Charlie Brown missed his pet, as did musician Fiona Apple, journalist Natalie Angier, and cat whisperer Jackson Galaxy. Roy Hattersley wondered how the world could continue when his Buster died. Author Dean Koontz was paralyzed at his desk, and couldn’t write. Eleanor Roosevelt fretted that Fala’s doggy friends might also grieve.

Author Amy Tan avows that “Grief is remembering how you once filled his bowl and seeing the perpetually empty one.”

Says Bader, “It’s no wonder that we’re devastated when [our pets] depart; to be honest, it’s a small miracle that we find a way to continue on.”

One thing is for sure: Every copy of “The Book of Pet Love & Loss” should come with a box, maybe two, of tissues. If you’ve lost a pet or your furbaby’s a senior citizen, this book is going to wring you out. And yet, you’ll be very much comforted with it around.

Author Sara Bader collected a nice assortment of true sentiments, some of which you’ll want to write on sticky-notes, to post on your computer. She offers words of her own and others that you’ll carry in your wallet or in your heart. This book takes you from those moments when you look at a calendar and realize, hey, wow, Fido’s not a pup anymore, to the end, the shaky weeks of disbelief and the idea that there’ll never be a replacement for your dog, cat, bird, or gerbil, but there might someday be room for another.

For that, “The Book of Pet Love & Loss” is a hard book to read, but it’s hard to ignore, too. If you’re someone who needs it now or soon, it’s a good buy.

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