The 12 Most Memorable Moments in MLB All-Star Game History

The Midsummer Classic is the last great exhibition game left standing. Even as some players are opting not to participate in the game this year (or, in one case, decline an invite altogether), baseball is the only sport whose All-Star Game even remotely resembles an actual, competitive contest, given the NBA’s longstanding defense-optional dynamic and whatever it is the NFL’s Pro Bowl has become.

Being a non-contact sport, baseball’s All-Star Game allows players to give something close to a full-go effort. As a result, it’s widely considered a much more watchable event compared to its competition from other sports. With the 2026 MLB All-Star Game on tap in Philadelphia, now feels like a great time to take a look back at the most memorable and iconic moments from All-Star Games of the past.

They say you never know what you’ll see at the ballpark, and that goes doubly for a game involving the very best the sport has to offer. From the jaw-dropping to the dramatic to the downright puzzling, here are the 12 greatest moments in All-Star Game history.

Ted Williams calls game (1941)

Williams’s 1941 season is the stuff of legend primarily for one reason: The Red Sox legend hit .406, the last time a player has hit at or above the now-mythical number in a season. But The Splendid Splinter’s stellar season also beckoned forth a moment that simply has to be a part of any collection of the best Midsummer Classic moments.

Williams stepped to the plate on July 8, 1941, with the American League trailing the National League, 5–4, and down to their last out with the tying and winning runs on base. As he so often did, Williams, facing the Cubs’ Claude Passeau, worked the count to his advantage, then belted a ball over the right-field fence at Briggs Stadium to win it for the AL and send the ballpark into a frenzy. Williams clapped his hands and leapt in excitement as he rounded first base.

Teddy Ballgame called game.

Bug Selig calls game (2002)

Speaking of calling game, our next moment entails a certain gentleman ending an All-Star Game and sending a baseball stadium into a frenzy, but for a very, very different reason.

The 2002 All-Star Game was filled with plenty of excitement early on—featuring one of our moments later on in this list—and toward the end of the game, when the AL came back to tie the game at seven in the top of the eighth after an RBI single from Cleveland’s Omar Vizquel. But it all fizzled out at the very end.

AL manager Joe Torre called on the Mariners’ Freddy Garcia, who worked scoreless frames in the 10th and 11th and was matched by his NL counterpart, the Phillies’ Vicente Padilla. After that, there was just one problem. Torre and NL manager Bob Brenly had exhausted all of their pitchers and had no one left to turn to, leaving MLB in an embarrassing position.

Commissioner Bug Selig, in the ballpark he had helped spearhead the effort to build as Brewers’ team president, heard loud boos and chants of “Let them play!” as the public address announcer informed the crowd of his decision to declare the game a 7–7 tie.

Ken Griffey Jr. hits the warehouse in Baltimore during Derby (1993)

The B&O Warehouse that sits beyond the right-field wall at Oriole Park at Camden Yards has always given the ballpark an element of uniqueness. It’s also given sluggers something to strive for.

And on July 12, 1993, Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. unleashed his pretty swing on a ball during the 1993 Home Run Derby and sent the baseball rocketing 465 feet into uncharted territory: off of the warehouse. Griffey, to this day, is still the only player to hit the warehouse on the fly on a home run ball.

Cal Ripken Jr. wins MVP in final ASG (2001)

Baseball’s Iron Man earned his 19th and final All-Star nod in 2001, occurring just a month after he announced he would retire at the end of the season. By then, he had long ago made a full-time shift from shortstop to third base, and was voted in by the fans as a starter at the hot corner. When the AL team took the field for the top of the first inning, though, shortstop Alex Rodriguez implored Ripken to switch positions with him, giving Ripken a record 15 All-Star Game appearances at shortstop.

The 39-year-old Ripken delivered a storybook moment in his first at-bat of the game in the third inning, launching a solo home run to give the AL a 1–0 lead in what became a 4–1 win. Ripken earned MVP honors for his efforts, putting a fitting capper on a Hall of Fame career.

Kyle Schwarber wins swing-off (2025)

In part to avoid marathon extra-inning games (and the embarrassment of the infamous 2002 tie), MLB adopted the swing-off, a home run derby-style rule, in 2022. It came into use for the first time in ‘25. And it was worth the wait—the penalty kick-like tension to cap off an exhibition game was a big hit, culminating in Kyle Schwarber’s exclamation point to seal the win for the NL.

All-Star Games are the perfect place to experiment with new wrinkles. They’re not all winners (who else remembers “This time it counts”?), but in this case, MLB deserves credit for adding a fun element to the proceedings—and Schwarber is owed even more for meeting the moment.

Tony Gwynn sprints to a walk-off win for the NL (1994)

The 1994 All-Star Game was one of the best ever, which made it even more regrettable that the season was halted a few weeks later for a strike that wiped out the World Series. The American League entered the contest on a six-game winning streak, but that ended, thanks to Tony Gwynn’s heroics.

The NL trailed, 7–5, entering the bottom of the ninth at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Lee Smith was on the mound to close things out for the AL and after a walk and a ground out, Fred McGriff stepped in. On a 1–2 pitch, McGriff launched an opposite-field two-run home run to tie the game as the crowd and the NL’s dugout went nuts. After Doug Jones held the AL scoreless in the top of the 10th, the stage was set for a dramatic finish.

Gwynn led off the bottom of the 10th with a single up the middle off Jason Bere. Moisés Alou followed and launched a double to left field. Gwynn was not exactly fleet of foot at that point in his career, but the Hall of Famer chugged around the bases, barely beating the relay throw and Ivan Rodriguez’s tag at home for an 8–7 victory. He immediately popped up and celebrated the walk-off as the NL players poured out of the dugout. That win certainly meant something to them.

Gwynn started and played the entire game, going 2-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. McGriff was named MVP for his heroics, but Gwynn likely deserved it. It’s worth noting that the season’s abrupt ending cost the Padres star a shot at hitting .400. He finished the year at .394, and for years a debate has raged as to whether or not he could have been the first player to eclipse the mark since Ted Williams in 1941. Everyone close to Gwynn swears he would have done it. It’s hard to disagree.

Josh Hamilton’s magical Home Run Derby performance (2008)

There is nothing better in sports than a redemption story, and that’s what we saw play out during the 2008 Home Run Derby. When he was selected with the No. 1 pick by the Rays during the 1999 MLB draft, Josh Hamilton looked like a sure thing as a prep lefty slugger possessing five tools. For the better part of the next decade, he was considered one of the great cautionary tales in sports history. He went bust, fell into drug addiction and wound up out of baseball for nearly three years.

By 2008, Hamilton was sober and finally looked like the player everyone expected him to be. He was named to his first All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium and opted in to the Home Run Derby. With childhood coach Clay Council throwing to him, Hamilton put on a majestic display, blasting a then-record 28 home runs in the opening round. Everyone watching understood the moment. A once can’t-miss prospect who went through hell, had risen himself back up and was hitting tape-measure shots on the field where Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle once roamed.

Given the story, the gravity of the moment and the setting, Hamilton’s Derby performance may never be topped. It transcended the event and became something that meant so much more.

Pete Rose barrels over Ray Fosse for the win (1970)

It’s said that Pete Rose was given the nickname “Charlie Hustle” derisively by the Yankees after a spring training game in the 1960s. And while the nickname may not have been coined affectionately, Rose embraced it fully and it became a part of his identity. He played hard and he played to win and he did it all the time.

Rose took that to an extreme during the 1970 All-Star Game, which some may have looked at as a meaningless exhibition game. Not Rose. The Reds legend recorded a two-out single in the 12th inning, then advanced to second on another single by NL teammate Billy Grabarkewitz. Cubs first baseman Jim Hickman then ripped a liner to center and the stage was set for a play that has been the subject of controversy for decades.

Rose rounded third and headed for home as Royals outfielder Amos Otis fielded the ball and fired a throw home to AL catcher Ray Fosse, who, after fielding the ball up the third-base line, blocked the plate with Rose incoming. Rose bowled over the AL backstop to score the winning run. It was later revealed that Fosse had suffered a shoulder separation and fracture, an injury that healed incorrectly and went on to plague him for the rest of his career.

Ichiro’s inside-the-park home run (2007)

Even an All-Star Game can provide some unexpected weirdness that makes baseball such a fun game. San Francisco’s AT&T Park (now named Oracle Park), notorious for its odd dimensions and odd signage on the outfield walls, was the setting for the only inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history, when Ichiro Suzuki’s fly ball to right field took an unexpected carom and allowed the Mariners star to race around the bases.

Torii Hunter robs Barry Bonds of home run

The 2002 season marked the apex of Barry Bonds mania. In his follow-up to his record-setting 73-homer campaign in ‘01, the 37-year-old Bonds entered the All-Star break with 27 home runs and a comical .562 OBP, with more intentional walks (38) than strikeouts (28). His plate appearances had been appointment viewing for well over a year, so the anticipation reached a crescendo in Milwaukee when he stepped to the plate to face Derek Lowe in the first inning. And for a moment, it seemed like Bonds was set to give the people what they wanted—until Torii Hunter intervened.

Hunter won nine straight Gold Gloves in center field from 2001 to ‘09, and established himself as one of the best defenders of his generation. That he pulled off this highlight to rob the most feared power hitter of all time was the perfect way to open this All-Star Game (one that, of course, had an infamous conclusion).

Pedro Martínez K’s five at Fenway in front of Ted Williams (1999)

The All-Star Game returned to Fenway Park for the first time in 38 years, and with perfect timing. Pedro Martínez was in the third year of a four-year stretch in which he won three Cy Young Awards (with a runner-up finish as well) and posted a 2.16 ERA. And, most memorable of all, the game featured one of the final public appearances from Red Sox icon Ted Williams. The 80-year-old Williams was taken on a slow golf cart ride around the stadium, receiving a standing ovation that culminated with players from both teams greeting him at the pitcher’s mound.

After that moving start to the evening, Martínez took the mound and mowed down the top of the National League lineup. He faced six batters total and struck out five of them, electrifying the crowd and setting the tone for a 4–1 win for the AL. On a night that did a fitting job of honoring the game’s past, Martínez did his part to etch another indelible moment into baseball’s history.

Bo Jackson hits leadoff HR with iconic Vin Scully call (1989)

Bo Jackson was a comet of an athlete, shining so brightly but for a relatively brief moment in time. His MLB career lasted eight seasons, and the 1989 campaign was his only All-Star nod (his NFL career was even shorter at four seasons). He made the most of it, though: With his popularity peaking and the now-legendary “Bo Knows” Nike ad campaign debuting the day of the ‘89 All-Star Game, Jackson led things off with a mammoth home run to center field, drawing a classic line from the legendary Vin Scully on the broadcast.

Jackson added an RBI single and a stolen base on the day to bring home game MVP honors. In the four seasons from 1987 to '90, he totaled 107 home runs and 78 stolen bases. He never reached the 100-game threshold again and was out of the league by '95. But for those who saw him in person, few better embodied what it meant to be an All-Star.

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