The best performances in All-Star game history

Rico Carty was the first player ever written into the mid-summer classic. Steve Garvey was the second. He had a much more memorable time. The Dodgers' star slashed a double and a single, scored a run and drove in another. For his efforts, he was named MVP.

In 1989, Tony LaRussa surprised baseball fans by putting Kansas City slugger Bo Jackson in the leadoff spot.
The two-sport star responded in a classic way: He bashed a home run off Rick Reuschel. The American League never looked back.
Later, he would steal a base. But it wasn't just an offensive showcase - Jackson showed he knew how to pick it, robbing Pedro Guerrero of a single.

He might not be a baseball immortal, but Johny Callison had a fine Major League career. He hit more than 200 home runs and was selected to three All-Star games. However, this one was his best. He walked off the National League's victory with a shot into the Shea Stadium stands.

The American League was beginning its run of recent dominance. It had Lee Arthur Smith on the Three Rivers Stadium mound. Up to the plate stepped the Crime Dog. It was a last-ditch effort to tie the game. McGriff launched a dramatic home run to dead center. The next inning, Tony Gwynn scored from first on a Moises Alou double to give the National League the win.

Saying Ted Williams could hit is like saying Michelangelo would have passed your fifth-grade art class. In 1941, the year in which he hit .406, Ted Williams ripped a walk-off home run. Watching him bound around the bases clapping his hands is one of the most magical images of any player in history. It was rare to see pure joy from The Kid.

Robbie Alomar was probably more famous. But the 1997 game belonged to brother Sandy. The American League catcher came to bat in the seventh in a tie game. He proceeded to launch a Shawn Estes offering into the Cleveland night, becoming the first player to win the game's MVP while playing in his home park.

Ten years after he won his first All-Star Game MVP trophy, the Iron Man took home another. And he wasn't even supposed to be there. Many fans bemoaned Cal Ripken Jr.'s roster spot. He was no longer a dominant player, they said. However, he showed them, launching a dramatic home run that came close to giving Chris Berman a heart attack.

It's only fitting that Ruth hit the first home run in All-Star game history. The Sultan's big swing helped Connie Mack's Americans drop John McGraw's Nationals 4-2 at Comisky Park.

There he is again, the Splendid Splinter. Williams performance in 1946 was insanely dominant. He bashed two home runs, collected four hits and drove in five runs.
Talk about rising to the occasion. It's hands-down, the most impressive offensive performance in All-Star game history.

You know you had a good game when they have to change the rules. Gomez so dominated the National League he got them to whine like schoolkids who missed their nap. In six innings, he didn't give up a run. That shutout performance forced the leagues to adopt the three-inning rule, in which pitchers could no longer pitch more than three frames.

This was supposed to be a cavalcade of sluggers. It was at Fenway Park, where Ted Williams was treated like a king. The National League roster included Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Tony Gwynn and Larry Walker.
However, the diminutive Dominican outshone all the big boppers. Pedro Martinez broke the National League's back. He whiffed Barry Larkin, Walker and Sosa to start the game. Pedro then struck out Big Mac. Matt Williams broke up the dominance briefly, reaching on an error. He was then thrown out stealing second as Jeff Bagwell struck out.
For anyone who watched, it was as masterful an outing as any pitcher has ever had.

What the screwballer did is one of the most impressive feats in baseball history. Sure striking out five batters in a row is difficult. But it doesn't stand up to the test of time. It does, however, when those batters include Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. All five are enshrined in Cooperstown.

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