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2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 82nd in-season exhibition game between the All-Stars of the National League (NL) and the American League (AL); the leagues composing Major League Baseball. The event was held on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, home of the National League Arizona Diamondbacks. The game ended in a 5–1 win for the National League, their second straight All-Star victory. It was the first MLB All-Star Game to be held in Arizona and the first in a National League Park to have a designated hitter.

With a combination of injuries and rule enforcements, a record 84 players were named to the All-Star rosters. This broke the record of 82 players that were on rosters for the 2010 game.[2]

Background

As with each All-Star Game since 1970, the nine starting position players of each league were elected by fan balloting. The remaining players were selected by a players' vote, each league's team manager, and a second fan balloting to add one more player to each roster. In all, 32 players were selected to each league's team, not including players who decline to play due to injuries or personal reasons.

Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin confirmed on April 10, 2009, that Arizona would host the 2011 All-Star Game and it was officially announced by Commissioner Bud Selig the next day.[3][4] Phoenix had never hosted the All-Star Game before; the last first-time host city was Denver, Colorado in 1998.[4] The game was the ninth straight All-Star Game to decide home-field advantage in the World Series.[5] Prior All-Star games had only used the designated hitter (DH) rule when in American League parks.[6] However, the 2011 game was the first to feature a DH in a NL park following a rules change in 2010.[6] The NL came into the game having won the previous year's match, their first victory since 1996.[7]

Immigration controversy

Some, such as New York Congressman José Serrano and sportswriter Mike Lupica, had suggested that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig should move the game because of the controversial SB1070 anti-illegal immigration bill passed by the Arizona legislature and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer.[8][9][10] Others considered asking club owners, sponsors and even players to boycott the All-Star Game if the law was implemented and the game remained in Phoenix.[11] However, Selig announced on May 13, 2010, that the game would remain at Chase Field in Phoenix as planned.[12] Two of the players who threatened to boycott, Red Sox slugger Adrian Gonzalez and Detroit Tigers reliver Jose Valverde, ended up participating in the game without incident after a federal court ruled against the strictest portions of the bill. Other stars who threatened to boycott but regardless were not all-stars in 2011 were pitchers Yovani Gallardo and Joakim Soria; Albert Pujols likewise voiced opposition to the law before it was neutered.[13][14]

Fan balloting

A man in a black batting helmet, black baseball jersey, and grey pants holds a baseball bat midway into right-handed swing with his left leg up in the air.
José Bautista was the leading vote-getter in 2011, breaking the previous record for most votes by more than 1 million.

Starters

Balloting for the 2011 All-Star Game starters began online April 26 and continued through June 30.[15] Fan voting also took place in each MLB stadium, beginning May 10 (at the latest) and ending on June 24.[15] The top vote-getters at each position and the top three among outfielders, were named the starters for their respective leagues. The results were announced on July 3.[16] A record 32.5 million votes were cast, beating out the previous record from 2009 by roughly 9 million.[17] José Bautista was the leading vote-getter with 7,454,753 votes, easily breaking the previous single-player vote record of 6,069,688 held by Ken Griffey Jr.[17][18] Three other American League players also topped Griffey's record. Ryan Braun was the National League's leading vote getter, receiving a NL record 5,928,004 votes.[17]

Final roster spot

After the rosters were revealed, a second ballot of five players per league was created for the All-Star Final Vote to determine the 34th and final player of each roster, with online balloting conducted from Sunday afternoon, July 3, through Thursday afternoon, July 7. The winners of the final vote were Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox (AL) and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies. Victorino became the first ever two-time Final Vote winner, having also won in 2009.[19]

Rosters

Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

  1. ^ Kevin Youkilis replaced Alex Rodriguez on the roster due to injury.
  2. ^ Jhonny Peralta replaced Derek Jeter on the roster due to fatigue.
  3. ^ Jon Lester replaced Félix Hernández on the roster due to Hernandez's ineligibility to pitch.
  4. ^ Alexi Ogando replaced CC Sabathia on the roster due to Sabathia's ineligibility to pitch.
  5. ^ Michael Pineda replaced Justin Verlander on the roster due to Verlander's ineligibility to pitch.
  6. ^ David Robertson replaced David Price on the roster due to injury.
  7. ^ Ricky Romero replaced Jon Lester on the roster due to injury.
  8. ^ CC Sabathia replaced James Shields on the roster due to Shields' ineligibility to pitch.
  9. ^ Jordan Walden replaced Mariano Rivera on the roster due to injury.
  10. ^ Miguel Montero replaced Plácido Polanco on the roster due to injury.
  11. ^ Scott Rolen replaced Chipper Jones on the roster due to injury.
  12. ^ Pablo Sandoval replaced Jose Reyes on the roster due to injury.
  13. ^ Andre Ethier replaced Shane Victorino on the roster due to injury.
  14. ^ Andrew McCutchen replaced Ryan Braun on the roster due to injury.
  15. ^ Kevin Correia replaced Cole Hamels on the roster due to Hamels' ineligibility to pitch.
  16. ^ Craig Kimbrel replaced Matt Cain on the roster due to Cain's ineligibility to pitch.

Game summary

Starters

Box Score

UMPIRES: Home Plate – Dale Scott; First Base – Jerry Layne; Second Base – Hunter Wendelstedt; Third Base – Dan Iassogna; Left Field – Ed Hickox; Right Field – Chris Guccione
Weather: Indoors
Time of Game: 2:50 Attendance: 47,994

The American League struck first on Adrián González's two-out home run in the fourth off of Cliff Lee, who allowed two singles. Tyler Clippard in relief allowed a single to Adrian Beltre, but José Bautista was tagged out at home to end the inning. In the bottom half, after two leadoff singles, Prince Fielder's three-run home run off of C. J. Wilson put the National League up 3–1. Next inning, Rickie Weeks reached first on a fielder's choice, stole second and scored on Andre Ethier's single off of Jordan Walden. The National League added another run in the seventh when Hunter Pence hit a leadoff single, moved to third on Brandon League's passed ball and scored on Pablo Sandoval's ground-rule double and went on to win the game 5–1.

All-Star Game notes

The game's winning pitcher, Tyler Clippard, surprisingly, did not retire a batter.

See also

References

  1. ^ "MLB All-Star Game: Joe Garagiola, Daniel Hernandez to throw out first pitch". azcentral.com. July 11, 2011.
  2. ^ Matuszewski, Erik (July 12, 2011). "Baseball's All-Star Game Faces Player Exodus, Slipping Television Ratings". Bloomberg L.P.
  3. ^ "Diamondbacks awarded 2011 MLB all-star game". CBC Sports. Associated Press. April 10, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  4. ^ a b "MLB Notebook: Arizona slated to host 2011 All-Star Game". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 12, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  5. ^ Bloom, Barry M. (October 25, 2006). "MLB, union announce new labor deal". MLB.com. Retrieved October 30, 2006.
  6. ^ a b Stephens, Bailey (April 28, 2010). "Modifications in place for All-Star Game". MLB.com. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  7. ^ "McCann's three-run double gives NL first All-Star win since 1996". ESPN. Associated Press. July 13, 2010. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  8. ^ "Congressman asks Selig to move game". ESPN. April 30, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  9. ^ Lupica, Mike (April 29, 2010). "Bud Selig should move 2011 MLB All-Star Game out of Arizona if new immigration law isn't stopped". New York Daily News. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  10. ^ Freeman, Mike (April 28, 2010). "MLB All-Star Game should emigrate from Arizona over immigration". CBS Sports. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  11. ^ Baxter, Kevin (April 29, 2010). "Arizona's new immigration law becomes an issue in Major League Baseball". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  12. ^ "Selig ignores pleas to move game". ESPN Internet Ventures. Associated Press. May 13, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  13. ^ Walker, Ben (July 12, 2010). "Gallardo would skip All-Stars in Arizona over law". Associated Press. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  14. ^ Vecsey, George (July 10, 2011). "At All-Star Game, Politics and Passion Are Also in Play". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  15. ^ a b "All-Star balloting for the 82nd Midsummer Classic begins today". MLB.com (Press release). April 26, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  16. ^ "Hamilton, Ellsbury battle for starting job in final A.L. All-Star balloting update". MLB.com (Press release). June 28, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  17. ^ a b c "Rosters unveiled for 82nd All-Star Game". MLB.com. July 3, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  18. ^ "Jose Bautista tops final All-Star tally". ESPN Internet Ventures. Associated Press. July 4, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  19. ^ Newman, Mark (July 8, 2011). "Konerko, Victorino go wire-to-wire in Final Vote". MLB.com. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  20. ^ Rosecrans, C. Trent (July 13, 2011). "Bell's slide steals the show". CBSSports.com. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012.
  21. ^ Baxter, Kevin; Shaikin, Bill (July 12, 2011). "Heath Bell doesn't let opportunity slide by at All-Star game". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  22. ^ Sullivan, Tim (July 12, 2011). "Show goes on without some All-Stars, but Bell provides memorable moment". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.