The 70th All-Star Game
Tonight was Major League Baseball's 70th All-Star Game, a tradition which started in 1933 and is slightly out-of-sync due to several years when they had two All-Star Games a year. This year the game was held in Fenway Park, and at the last minute I invited a bunch of people to come watch it with me. Unsurprisingly, there weren't many last-minute takers, but both Ceej and Keith came over to watch. Both fellow Red Sox fans!
I've always liked the All-Star Game. Yes, it's basically a big marketing exercise, but you get to see some things you never see anywhere else, and, well, it's fun to see the players there just having fun in a game which doesn't mean anything except to have fun, and the fans cheering on their favorite players.
This year's game introduced something called the "All-Century Team" or something like that, and they introduced 41 great living ballplayers before the game. (Only one - Mark McGwire - is still active.) It was an impressive collection of greats, many of whom rarely appear in public anymore. Warren Spahn and Stan Musial, for instance - both of whom looked quite old. As with Ted Williams, who put in an appearance to throw out the first pitch, they all must be around 80 by now. It was pretty neat to see, actually.
Boston ace Pedro Martinez started the game in his home stadium, to great cheers, and struck out five of the six batters he faced - tying an All-Star Game Record - including the first four, which set a record. The American League went up 4-1 early in the game and that was how everything eventually panned out. No home runs this year, in contrast to a few years ago when the 3-2 final score was accounted for by five solo homers.
CJ, Keith and I of course talked baseball at great length, and were both happy to see my cats come out to see people - even Jefferson put in a cautious appearance tonight, about 2/3 of the way through the game.
And, the weather has started turning. The humidity's clearing out, and I think it will be nice and temperate tomorrow.
I delivered the copy of Starcraft: Brood War that I bought for CJ to her, which also made her quite happy. She's an addict, just as I am.
So, a successful night.
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