Search

» » Do you remember these epic All-Star HRs? - MLB.com

Do you remember these epic All-Star HRs? - MLB.com

There have been 90 All-Star Games in Major League history, and since the tradition began in 1933, we’ve seen so many standout players put up stellar performances at the Midsummer Classic. In those games, we’ve seen 199 home runs, with Hall of Famer Stan Musial leading the way with six.

There have been 90 All-Star Games in Major League history, and since the tradition began in 1933, we’ve seen so many standout players put up stellar performances at the Midsummer Classic.

In those games, we’ve seen 199 home runs, with Hall of Famer Stan Musial leading the way with six.

Thanks to MLB Film Room powered by Google Cloud, we can watch more than 130 video clips of All-Star Game home runs, dating all the way back to the 1941 edition. With a simple search, you can pull up all of those clips and watch any you’d like. Film Room also offers you the chance to create your own highlight reel of up to five clips, like the selection of All-Star homers above. Those can then be shared on social media, embedded on a website or shared via email or text.

What about historic homers? Here’s a look at home runs of each of the following varieties: leadoff, walk-off, extra-inning, the All-Star Game’s only grand slam and its only inside-the-parker.

Let’s take a look at the history associated with these kinds of home runs.

Good starts: Leadoff homers

There have been six leadoff home runs in All-Star Game history. The most recent was Mike Trout’s in 2015 off Zack Greinke, part of the performance that netted him his second consecutive All-Star Game MVP Award, making him one of five players to win twice and the only to do it in back-to-back years.

Trout is an eight-time All-Star and has appeared in seven of those games, missing the 2017 edition due to injury. He recorded a hit in each of his first six All-Star Games, something that only two other players have done: Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Joe Morgan (who did so in his first seven overall). Trout has two Midsummer Classic homers, with this leadoff one being his first, and the second coming off Jacob deGrom in 2018. In 2014, Trout became the second-youngest All-Star Game MVP, and in November was named regular-season MVP, too. He was the sixth player to win both awards in a single year.

Exciting finishes: Walk-off homers

Moving quickly to the end of the game, we have seen just three walk-off home runs in the Midsummer Classic’s history. The first came off the bat of Ted Williams in the 1941 game. Batting with runners on first and third and two outs, down a run, he propelled the AL to victory over Claude Passeau and the NL, despite Arky Vaughan’s multi-homer game.

It was the first of four career All-Star Game home runs for Williams, who is tied with Fred Lynn for second-most behind Musial. In 1946, Williams hit two, becoming the second player to do so, after Vaughan. There have been just three multi-homer efforts in All-Star Games since, most recently Gary Carter’s in 1981.

Working overtime: Extra-inning homers

There have been seven extra-inning home runs in All-Star Game history. The latest by innings was Tony Pérez’s in 1967 -- in the top of the 15th off Catfish Hunter.

The home run came in the first of seven All-Star Games over the course of Pérez’s Hall of Fame career. He had entered the game in the bottom of the 10th, replacing Dick Allen at third base. He struck out in a plate appearance against Hunter in the 12th before blasting the historic homer.

The next extra-inning All-Star home run was hit 50 years, to the day, after Pérez’s, on July 11, 2017, by Robinson Canó.

A singular occurrence: All-Star Game grand slam

With outstanding players filling up both leagues' rosters every summer, and 90 All-Star Games played so far, it stands to reason we’d have seen a few grand slams. But surprisingly, there has been just one in the event's entire history. In the bottom of the third in 1983, Lynn knocked a grand slam off Atlee Hammaker, the fourth and final home run of his nine-game All-Star career.

Since then, there have been 38 bases-loaded plate appearances in All-Star Games, none of which has led to a homer. The most recent was Pete Alonso in the eighth inning against Brad Hand in 2019. That year's Home Run Derby champ singled and plated two runs -- but didn’t manage to knock the ball over the fence.

Another rarity: Inside-the-park home run

Another feat we’ve seen just once? An inside-the-park home run. Ichiro Suzuki put together a performance for the ages in the 2007 All-Star Game, winning MVP honors. He totaled three hits, starting with two singles in his first two plate appearances. In the fifth against Chris Young, he hit a ball off the wall in right-center that took an unexpected carom away from NL right fielder Ken Griffey Jr., allowing Ichiro to race all the way around the bases in San Francisco for the Midsummer Classic’s only inside-the-park home run. It was Ichiro’s seventh All-Star Game of 10 total in his career.

Thus concludes the All-Star Game home run history lesson for today. The clips in this reel and the other mentioned examples are just a few of the millions of videos available in MLB Film Room. In addition to historical and instance-based searches like this one, you can also dig in more granularly, with pitch-speed info available for almost every pitch since 2016, with other Statcast data searchable in that span as well, not to mention the historical videos dating to 1926. Film Room offers baseball fans unprecedented access to a vast video library, with customizable search options and sharing methods.

What will you create and share in MLB Film Room?

Sarah Langs is a reporter/editor for MLB.com based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @SlangsOnSports.

Let's block ads! (Why?)



"all" - Google News
January 11, 2021 at 09:47AM
https://ift.tt/35tGvsf

Do you remember these epic All-Star HRs? - MLB.com
"all" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2vcMBhz


Bagikan Berita Ini

0 Response to "Do you remember these epic All-Star HRs? - MLB.com"

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Powered by Blogger.