Like Yogi Berra, I thought, “It’s Deja Vu All Over Again” when Washington’s Max Scherzer took the mound in his home ball park in the first inning and handled two of the best hitters the American League had to offer — putting down Mookie Betts on strikes on five pitches and getting Jose Altuve on strikes on three pitches.

Betts was hitting .359 and leading all of baseball and had been striking less than once in every eight plate appearances, and Altuve, the ultimate contact hitter, was hitting .332 and also had been struck out less than once in every eight plate appearances.
I don’t know about any of you but the first thing that came to my mind was the 1999 All-Star Game, played at Fenway, when Pedro Martinez struck out five of the first six hitters he faced.
Pedro, the consummate showman, struck out future Hall of Famer Barry Larkin of the Cincinnati Reds, who was hitting .312 before the break, Colorado’s Larry Walker, having a career year at .382 and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs who was only hitting .286 at the time, but was on his way to a 63 home run season in which he would drive in 141 runs.
In the second inning, he struck out the Cardinal’s Mark McGwire, who would hit 65 homers and drive in 147 runs that year to start the inning. He then gave up a ground ball to second, by Matt Williams of Arizona, who was hitting .318 at the time, which Roberto Alomar misplayed, putting a runner on first. He then struck out another future Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell of Houston and Mike Piazza threw to Alomar to get Williams stealing on the third strike and the inning was over.
Of course, Scherzer, who may be the best pitcher in the game today, then walked Mike Trout and gave up a line single to JD Martinez before getting Jose Ramirez to pop out to end the inning. In the second inning, Scherzer was victimized by Aaron Judge when he violated John Smoltz rule by throwing a first pitch fastball which Judge did what he does best with — depositing it over the fence.
Scherzer then got Manny Machado to fly out deep to left and struck out Jose Abreu and Salvatore Perez to end his two inning stint with four strikeouts.
After that, the game became just an extension of the previous days’ Home Run Derby, with a total of 10 being hit, five by each team. This may have been the first All-Star Game to have more home runs hit than singles, there were nine singles, one double and the 10 home runs in the 20 hits.
Of course, the 1999 All-Star Game, which, by the way, MLB rates as the best of all time had the most emotional scene of any All-Star Game before it even started. When Ted Williams was wheeled out onto the field before the game and the All-Stars gathered around him, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Ted was no stranger to All-Star games. In 1941, he hit a two out, walk off home run erasing a 5-4 deficit, scoring Joe Gordon and Joe DiMaggio ahead of him and giving the American League the win.
In 1946, he went 4 for 4, with two home runs and five runs batted in as the American League belted the National 12-0 in his own Fenway Park. The two home runs came in the first and fourth innings. Claude Passeau, who had given up the walk off homer to Ted in 1941 was the victim in the first inning and Kirby Higbe in the fourth.
In 1953, Ted had just gotten out of the military after serving two years as a pilot in the Korean War, having missed all of the 1952 and most of the 1953season. He was voted onto the All-Star team even though he hadn’t played all year. He traveled to Cincinnati for the game and threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
In 1960, in his last appearance in an All-Star Game, Ted singled in his final All-Star at bat.
When Ted was wheeled onto the field at the 1999 game, Pedro Martinez was on the mound and said later “I thought the stadium was going down. I don’t think that there will be any other man that’s going to replace that one.”
Ted Williams and Pedro Martinez made the 1999 All-Star Game a special one.
The game has become almost an exhibition game over the years and that is not all bad. It gives the fans an opportunity to see their favorites in a relaxed game. But back when Ted was playing in All-Star games it was a hotly contested game for bragging rights for the two leagues.
Dave Stenhouse who, in 1962, became the first rookie pitcher ever to start an All-Star Game was at one of my book signings in Rhode Island last year and told me that he recalls vividly Yankees Manager Ralph Houk, that year’s American League Manager, coming into the club house before the game and saying we’ve got to beat these (expletives).
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game has changed but still is the best of all the major sports.