Boston Red Sox top-10 MLB All-Star Game performances
A countdown of the ten greatest performances by a Boston Red Sox hitter or pitcher in the history of the MLB All-Star Game.
The MLB All-Star Game has provided some unforgettable moments over the last eighty-five years. Many of them have been highlighted by players representing the Boston Red Sox.
The storied history of the franchise is littered with the names of some of the greatest baseball players who ever lived. From Teddy Ballgame to Yaz, to Big Papi and now Mookie. Generations of Red Sox fans have enjoyed watching the club’s brightest stars shine in the Midsummer Classic.
We can count on a Red Sox player to make the All-Star team every year. MLB’s archaic rule that every team must be represented ensures us of that. Not every All-Star Game leaves us with fond memories but others produce moments we’ll never forget.
Boston will send five All-Stars to Washington, D.C. for this year’s game. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez were voted in as starters by the fans. Mitch Moreland, Chris Sale, and Craig Kimbrel were selected by their peers.
All five players are expected to appear in this year’s game but will any of them make an impact? If so, they may join this list of the greatest in the history of the All-Star Game by a Red Sox player.
Mookie Betts – 2017
A reminder that being an All-Star isn’t always about what you can do with your bat. Mookie Betts was an uneventful 0-for-2 in two plate appearances batting out of the number nine spot in the 2017 All-Star Game. We’re seeing this year that Betts is among the best hitters in baseball, he simply didn’t show it on this stage a year ago.
Betts is a five-tool player, so when he’s not getting it done at the plate there are plenty of other ways he can contribute. In this case, it was with his glove.
While every defensive metric around rates Betts as the best right fielder in baseball, he started this game in center field. He was voted in as a starter alongside outfielders Aaron Judge and George Springer. The American League team decided Betts was the best of the trio to use in center and he proved why with an outstanding throw in the fourth inning.
Betts drifted back to reel in a fly ball to the warning track in center field off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman. The catch was fairly routine but what followed certainly was not. Nolan Arenado thought the ball was hit deep enough for him to tag up and advance to second. Not with Betts on duty. The Red Sox star fired a laser from deep center to gun down Arenado at second base for the double-play.
Most AL teams have learned not to test the arm of Betts but the memo must not have been received out in Colorado. Lesson learned.
Chris Sale – 2017
Chris Sale became the first AL starter since 1983-84 to start consecutive All-Star Games. He did it first for the Chicago White Sox in 2016, then started the following year in his first season with the Red Sox. No other pitcher has started consecutive All-Star games representing different teams.
The production was fairly ho-hum. Sale tossed a pair of scoreless innings, scattering three hits without a walk. He struck out two.
It looked like Sale could be in trouble after allowing base hits to Daniel Murphy and Nolan Arenado to lead off the second inning. The threat was quickly squashed with a double-play and an inning-ending strikeout.
Craig Kimbrel got the win for the American League after pitching a scoreless ninth inning with the game tied. The fire-breathing closer walked a pair but also struck out two. Robinson Cano‘s home run won it in the top of the 10th inning.
The late-inning heroics don’t boost Sale’s stock on this list. However, it doesn’t hurt that his team eventually prevailed in his start while his Red Sox teammate was credited with the win. Add in the historical context of Sale making back-to-back All-Star Game starts and it makes for a memorable moment.
Carl Yastrzemski – 1967
Carl Yastrzemski made a whopping 18 All-Star appearances over the course of his career so there are several options to choose from. Two of them make this list, the first of which is his 1967 performance.
Yaz went 3-for-4 with a double and a pair of walks that year. His three hits are tied for the fourth most in an All-Star Game and his two walks are tied for third.
The game would last 15 innings before the National League prevailed 2-1. Yaz drew a walk in the bottom of the 15th representing the tying run. He would not advance. Tom Seaver got Bill Freehan to fly out and then struck out Ken Berry to end the game.
A solid game for Yastrzemski but hard to place him any higher given his team lost and he failed to score a run or drive one in. His spot in the batting order did him no favors. Yaz hit sixth in the AL lineup that year. His Red Sox teammate, Tony Conigliaro, went 0-for-6 in the spot ahead of him. Freehan, the catcher for the Detroit Tigers, was 0-for-5 from the spot behind Yaz.
If only the batters around him could have found their way on base. The AL may have won the game, in which case Yaz would certainly have moved up on this list.
Manny Ramirez – 2004
Manny Ramirez paired with David Ortiz to form the most feared duo in baseball at the time. Both were All-Stars in 2004 but it was Manny who got the start. He hit in the cleanup spot, anchoring the heart of a deep lineup.
Ramirez went 1-for-2 with a home run and two RBI. The homer came in the first inning off Roger Clemens. The Rocket was in his first season with the Houston Astros, a season in which he’d capture his seventh and final Cy Young award. It was also his first season following a five-year stint with the New York Yankees. Seeing Clemens in pinstripes never sat well with Red Sox Nation. The blood-boiling anger toward Clemens has since cooled and he’s been enshrined in the Red Sox Hall of Fame. But back in 2004, Clemens was still the enemy in our eyes. That made Manny’s homer even sweeter.
The AL jumped on Clemens for three runs out of the gate, led by Ramirez’ two-run blast. It’s a lead they would not surrender, going on to win 9-4. Manny only stayed in for two plate appearances but he made one of them count.
Ramirez grounded into a force out to end the second inning. He was pinch-hit for with his buddy Big Papi in the fourth. Speaking of which…
David Ortiz – 2004
Manny helped get things started for the AL squad in 2004 and David Ortiz helped cap off the victory.
Ortiz pinch-hit for Ramirez in the top of the fourth inning. He drew a walk and would come around to score on an Alex Rodriguez triple. That pushed the AL’s lead to 7-1.
The NL would rally back with a few runs of their own but Ortiz would ensure the lead stayed out of reach. In his next plate appearance, Ortiz blasted a two-run homer off Carl Pavano. Perhaps the right-hander should have seen that encounter with Big Papi as a warning to avoid the AL East. Pavano joined the Yankees the following season and his three years in the Bronx didn’t go well.
Ortiz added a walk to lead off the ninth before Eric Gagne retired the next three batters.
He finished 1-for-1 with a home run, two RBI and a pair of walks. That gave him a staggering 4.000 slugging percentage and 5.000 OPS, both of which still stand as single-game All-Star records.
Big Papi made 10 All-Star appearances in his career, all of which came with the Red Sox. 2004 wasn’t the only time he did some damage but it was his best performance in the All-Star Game. Unless you count the Home Run Derby, which he won in 2010.
Roger Clemens – 1986
Long before Clemens became a villain in Boston he was one of the cities greatest heroes. The Rocket got the start for the AL in 1986, tossing three perfect innings with two strikeouts.
Tony Gwynn made solid contact to lead off the game (when did Gwynn not make solid contact?), only to line out to left fielder Rickey Henderson. That’s the closet the NL would get to dealing any damage against Clemens. Ryne Sandberg struck out and Keith Hernandez grounded out to first to complete a clean first inning.
The second inning didn’t fare any better for the NL. Clemens struck out Darryl Strawberry, which he sandwiched between a pair of harmless fly outs.
Clemens came back for the third inning, getting all three batters he faced to ground out. Lou Whitaker‘s two-run homer off Dwight Gooden gave the AL the lead the previous inning. That put Clemens in line for the win when the AL hung on to beat the NL 3-2.
It wasn’t an overpowering performance for Clemens but it was enough to earn him MVP honors that year. He’s one of only three Red Sox players to earn MVP honors in an All-Star Game.
Clemens would go on to be named the regular season MVP in ’86, along with his first Cy Young award. He helped pitch the Red Sox to the World Series that year, where they ultimately fell short to the New York Mets.
Carl Yastrzemski – 1970
MLB began handing out MVP awards for the All-Star Game in 1962. While there were more impressive All-Star performances by a Red Sox hitter that came before him, Carl Yastrzemski was the first in club history to be recognized with an MVP.
That being said, Yaz’ performance in 1970 was pretty impressive. He went 4-for-6 with a double, a run scored and an RBI.
Both sides exchanged zeros through the first five innings with starters Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer each tossing three scoreless. Yaz came through with a sixth-inning single to drive in Ray Fosse for the game’s first run.
His four hits are tied for the most in a single All-Star Game. That’s going to be tough for anyone to top. It took Yaz six plate appearances to log those four hits. When do All-Star managers ever leave a player in for six plate appearances these days?
Only one of those hits went for extra bases but his three singles also tie a record shared with nine other players.
The AL would ultimately fall short 5-4, preventing Yaz from ranking any higher on this list. However, his performance remains memorable from a historical perspective. It would have to be in order to earn MVP honors in a game in which his team didn’t win.
Ted Williams – 1941
The greatest hitter in franchise history naturally finds himself among the greatest All-Star performances.
In his second of 17 career All-Star appearances, Ted Williams went 2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI, and a walk.
Williams started in left field for the AL, hitting in the cleanup spot. He led off the second inning with a walk but was erased on a double-play.
Teddy Ballgame broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with an RBI double. The lead wouldn’t hold but luckily Williams wasn’t done.
He saved the best for last. Williams stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, his team trailing 5-4. A hopeless endeavor for most mortal men, Williams was as cool as a cucumber under pressure. He smacked a shot down the right-field line for a three-run walk-off home run.
It was the first walk-off home run in All-Star Game history. Granted, it was a history that was less than a decade old by that point. However, there have only been two other walk-off home runs in an All-Star game since. Robinson Cano won the 2017 All-Star game with a 10th inning homer but that came in the top of the inning. It’s just not quite as dramatic as the walk-off.
Ted Williams – 1946
Another entry for the Splendid Splinter. This one wasn’t quite as impactful as a walk-off homer but his production topped what Williams provided five years earlier.
Williams went 4-for-4 with two home runs, five RBI, and a walk.
All five of his plate appearances proved meaningful. Williams walked in the first inning and came around to score on a Charlie Keller homer for the first runs of the game. Teddy Ballgame homered himself his next time up in the fourth. A base hit in the fifth drove in another run. He singled and scored in the seventh. Williams capped it off with a three-run homer in his fifth and final plate appearance.
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The AL ran away with a 12-0 victory, so it wasn’t as dramatic as what Williams accomplished in ’41. He was more productive though. Williams was directly involved in seven of the team’s 12 runs.
A perfect on-base percentage with five plate appearances ties Phil Cavarretta for an All-Star Game record. The two homers and five RBI are also tied for records.
Williams didn’t need to showcase his flair for the dramatic this time but his production was the greatest we’ve seen by any hitter in an All-Star Game.
Pedro Martinez – 1999
The 1999 All-Star Game was memorable to Red Sox fans for many reasons. The event was held at Fenway Park. Nominees for the All-Century team were honored prior to the game, including Ted Williams. Watching the wheelchair-bound icon greeting players on the field was a special moment.
Pedro Martinez capped it off in front of the home crowd with the most dominant performance by a pitcher in an All-Star Game.
The right-hander tossed two innings, facing the minimum six batters and striking out five of them.
Pedro struck out the side in the first. Barry Larkin went down swinging, Larry Walker was caught looking, then Sammy Sosa failed to catch up to a fastball up and in. That made Martinez the first pitcher ever to strike out the first three batters of an All-Star Game.
Make that the first four hitters. Pedro got Mark McGwire to chase strike three to lead off the second inning.
The lone base runner that Martinez allowed was when Matt Williams reached on an error on a groundball to second baseman Roberto Alomar. The error would do no harm. Pedro struck out Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez gunned down Williams trying to take second base. The double-play ended the inning and sealed Pedro’s near flawless performance.
The AL would go on to win 4-1. Martinez earned the win and was named MVP. No other Red Sox player has won an All-Star MVP since.
Next: Chris Sale earns third consecutive All-Star start
Pedro’s performance was about as dominant as it gets. Throw in the Fenway environment and the pre-game festivities featuring Teddy Ballgame and the ’99 All-Star Game stands out as the most memorable for Red Sox fans in history.