Top Menu

It’s official: Cincinnati awarded 2015 MLB All-Star Game

Great American Ball Park

The Cincinnati Reds and Great American Ball Park will host the 2015 All-Star Game, with MLB Commissioner Bud Selig making the announcement at a Queen City press conference today.

“I am very pleased to award the 2015 All-Star Game to the Reds and the great fans of Cincinnati,” Selig said. “The Midsummer Classic will be a remarkable opportunity to celebrate Cincinnati’s rich baseball tradition, which parallels the history of the national pastime itself. I thank Bob Castellini and the entire Reds organization for sharing our enthusiasm about bringing the All-Star Game to Great American Ball Park for the first time in 2015.”

“We thank Commissioner Selig and Major League Baseball for the honor of hosting the 2015 All-Star Game,” said Reds President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Castellini. “Commissioner Selig’s staff and our hard-working, very talented organization will team with the City of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Northern Kentucky and the entire region to produce a jewel event Reds fans will remember for the rest of their lives. Tomorrow, we will begin turning our All-Star Game dream into reality.”

The 2015 All-Star Game will mark the fifth time that the Reds will serve as hosts of the Midsummer Classic, and Great American Ball Park will be the city’s third venue to host the festivities. Crosley Field staged the 1938 and 1953 All-Star Games, while Riverfront Stadium was the venue for the 1970 and 1988 Midsummer Classics. The National League has won three of the four All-Star Games played in Cincinnati.  Hometown hurler Johnny Vander Meer, just weeks removed from his back-to-back no-hitters, earned the win in a 4-1 game on July 6, 1938, in which the American League committed four errors in the field.  Hall of Famers Enos Slaughter and Pee Wee Reese led the N.L. to a 5-1 win on July 14, 1953, backed by seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball from Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn and Curt Simmons.  On July 14, 1970 at Riverfront Stadium, the N.L. scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 4-4 and prevailed in the 12-inning affair, 5-4, when Pete Rose scored the winning run after colliding with catcher Ray Fosse, one of the most memorable plays in All-Star Game history.  The A.L. took its first All-Star Game in the Queen City on July 12, 1988, when Terry Steinbach hit a solo homer and a sacrifice fly and the A.L. surrendered just five hits, all singles, in a 2-1 win.

—-

Share your news with the baseball community. Send it to us at editors@augustpublications.com.

Are you a subscriber to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter? You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.

Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!

Follow Ballpark Digest on Google + and add us to your circles!

, , , , , , ,