Major League Baseball has just unveiled a new All-Star Game site in which you can watch videos of some of the greatest moments in the contest’s history and then vote for which one you feel is tops. A total of 16 moments, 8 for both the American and National Leagues, are on the site. Then as the votes are totaled and the winners are determined, another round of voting will begin and continue until we get our top moment revealed during this year’s All-Star Game in Arizona on Fox. This year’s MLB All-Star Game takes place on Tuesday, July 12. Bob Costas narrates all of the videos. Here’s the MLB press release.
FANS TO CHOOSE TOP ALL-TIME MLB ALL-STAR MOMENT IN MIDSUMMER CLASSIC BRACKET TOURNAMENT ON MLB.COM
MLB Network’s Bob Costas Narrates Each Video
Former All-Stars and MLB Network Analysts Al Leiter, Harold Reynolds, and Mitch Williams Determined the Moment Match-UpsCal Ripken Jr. will take on Babe Ruth. Bo Jackson’s bomb in Anaheim will try to overcome Reggie Jackson’s titanic blast that hit a transformer on the roof at Tiger Stadium. And John Kruk’s hilarious at-bat against Randy Johnson will try to beat out Stan “The Man” Musial’s walk-off home run in a new bracket tournament called Midsummer Classics on MLB.com.
Fans now have the opportunity to vote for their favorite Midsummer Classic moment from a total of 16 (eight American League and eight National League) in a bracket format to determine the greatest moment in the history of the All-Star Game. Starting on Saturday each week, fans will vote at MLB.com/moments until one AL and one NL moment square off in the final week leading into the 82nd MLB All-Star Game, which will be broadcast on FOX on Tuesday, July 12 starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Narrated by MLB Network’s Bob Costas, each moment will be captured in a short video that will be available on MLB.com and shareable and embeddable online and through social media. The bracket match-ups were determined by former All-Stars and MLB Network analysts Al Leiter, Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams.
Here is a link to the brackets. Following are the first round match-ups:
American League
- Ted Williams Honored at All-Century Team Ceremony/Pedro Martinez Strikeout Performance (1999)vs. Fred Lynn Hits Only All-Star Game Grand Slam (1983)
- All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium’s Last Season Ends in 15th Inning Walk-Off (2008) vs. Ted Williams Hits Walk-Off Home Run (1941)
- Babe Ruth Hits First Ever All-Star Game Home Run (1933) vs. Cal Ripken Jr. Moves Back to Shortstop and Hits Home Run in His Final All-Star Game (2001)
- Reggie Jackson Hits Rooftop Home Run (1971) vs. Bo Jackson Does It All in Anaheim (1989)
National League
- Fernando Valenzuela and Dwight Gooden Strikeout Six Straight All-Stars (1984) vs. Johnny Callison Hits Walk-Off Home Run (1964)
- Carl Hubbell Strikes Out Five Consecutive Hall of Famers (1934) vs. Dave Parker Guns Down Brian Downing at Home From Deep Right Field (1979)
- Pete Rose Runs Over Ray Fosse (1970) vs. Moises Alou Knocks In Tony Gwynn to Win the Game (1994)
- Stan Musial Hits Walk-Off Home Run (1955) vs. John Kruk Survives At Bat Against Randy Johnson (1993)
The voting periods will be as follows:
- Round One (16 Midsummer Classics): Saturday, June 11 – Saturday, June 18
- Round Two (8 Midsummer Classics): Saturday, June 18 – Saturday, June 25
- Round Three (4 Midsummer Classics): Saturday, June 25 – Saturday, July 2
- Round Four (2 Midsummer Classics): Saturday, July 2 – Saturday, July 9
And there you have it.
