I’m a big “All Star festivities” guy. I look forward to the HR Derby and Midsummer Classic every summer! Even if just fun exhibitions, I enjoy seeing all the best and brightest baseball talent in one place and what that represents for fandom.
So, here is a thread to talk about everything All Star-related this week!
Home Run Derby
First Pitch: 7:00 PM CT
TV: ESPN
Radio: ESPN Radio
Know Thine Combatants: Derby Lineup
The full cadre of participants…
Besides of course our beautiful hometown (in more ways than one) boy Byron Buxton, I’m interested to see how former Twin Brent Rooker and “Big Dumper” Cal Raleigh fare.
One MN Twin has prevailed in home run heroics: Justin Morneau in ‘08 at Yankee Stadium.
The Derby rules seemed to get tweaked a little bit each year, so you can find the current configuration here. Granted, it is more of a “everything is made up and the points don’t matter” sort of scenario anyway (hahaha).
Can Byron join Justin on the HR throne?!
All-Star Game
First Pitch: 7:00 PM CT
TV: FOX
Radio: SiriusXM
Know Thine All-Stars: AL & NL Rosters
MLB Network
This is the third time the state of Georgia has hosted All-Star festivities—the first being 1972 in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and the second at Turner Field in 2000. The new Truist Park was actually scheduled to host in 2021—until protests against the Election Integrity Act of 2021 prompted MLB to postpone ATL host duties until now.
It sounds like a gaggle of Braves from the ‘00 game—Andres Galarraga, Andruw Jones, & Chipper Jones—will be the focal point of pregame festivities before Aaron Boone (AL) & Dave Roberts (NL) skipper their respective league squads.
Getting the (ATL) band back together
Historically-speaking, the AL holds a 48-44-2 advantage in these contests and are currently riding a 10-1 advantage (NL won in ‘23, but before that not since ‘12) in the last 11 games.
No recaps after these two events—I won’t have time for that this week. But just a place here to somehow watch more baseball when the whole point is kinda-sorta to get a break from baseball (tee-hee!).