MLB All-Star Weekend: The All-Star Game
The increasingly misnamed All-Star "Weekend" continued on Tuesday. As I've already written, I bailed out of work early and headed down to the Rock Hall to see The Baseball Project perform. From there, I walked over to the Convention Center for the All-Star Expo. Tickets for that had been included in my strip whether I wanted to or not, so I wandered through. It was the tail end of the expo, so booths were starting to shut down, but it was clear that most of the booths were aimed at kids, with fun things like VR batting, putting yourself on a baseball card and some skills tests.
The only booths that were particularly interesting to me were three from various Halls of Fame: Cooperstown itself, the Negro Leagues museum and most excitingly, one from the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum, which I had never even heard of, although to be fair it's only 20 years old. So now I have something to see in San Francisco next time I'm there. Anyway, I enjoyed reviewing some old baseball nostalgia and memorabilia. I also got some pleasure in watching someone completely screw up Hall of Fame trivia (I was 7 for 7), and in the area where you could look at all the post-season awards. I opted against getting my picture taken with the World Series trophy.
I walked over to the game and took in some batting practice, which was a bit anti-climatic after the Home Run Derby. From there, it was game time. The game was actually pretty good despite the numerous substitutions as they tried to get everbody into it. And they didn't change the rules like they did for the Futures Game.
The highlight was Shane Bieber's inning on the mound. The Cleveland fans were on the their feet as he struck out the side on 19 pitches. He won the MVP for it, which was dubious. The better choice would have been Aroldis Chapman, who preserved the 4-3 lead for the AL in the top of the ninth, but since he as been suspended for domestic abuse and was actively being booed by the Tribe fans (who also remember 2016, yes they do), Bieber sneaked in to win.
With a 4-3 American League victory, All-Star Weekend was complete. It was a lot of fun watching most of the best players in the game on one field, including a bunch of NL players I don't normally get to see in Cleveland. That's another one off the increasingly tiny baseball bucket list.
The only booths that were particularly interesting to me were three from various Halls of Fame: Cooperstown itself, the Negro Leagues museum and most excitingly, one from the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum, which I had never even heard of, although to be fair it's only 20 years old. So now I have something to see in San Francisco next time I'm there. Anyway, I enjoyed reviewing some old baseball nostalgia and memorabilia. I also got some pleasure in watching someone completely screw up Hall of Fame trivia (I was 7 for 7), and in the area where you could look at all the post-season awards. I opted against getting my picture taken with the World Series trophy.
I walked over to the game and took in some batting practice, which was a bit anti-climatic after the Home Run Derby. From there, it was game time. The game was actually pretty good despite the numerous substitutions as they tried to get everbody into it. And they didn't change the rules like they did for the Futures Game.
The highlight was Shane Bieber's inning on the mound. The Cleveland fans were on the their feet as he struck out the side on 19 pitches. He won the MVP for it, which was dubious. The better choice would have been Aroldis Chapman, who preserved the 4-3 lead for the AL in the top of the ninth, but since he as been suspended for domestic abuse and was actively being booed by the Tribe fans (who also remember 2016, yes they do), Bieber sneaked in to win.
With a 4-3 American League victory, All-Star Weekend was complete. It was a lot of fun watching most of the best players in the game on one field, including a bunch of NL players I don't normally get to see in Cleveland. That's another one off the increasingly tiny baseball bucket list.