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CNN Live Today

All-Star Game Ends in Tie, Angering Fans

Aired July 10, 2002 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first on CNN: No winners, no losers, but plenty of angry fans today after baseball's All-Star game ended in a 7-7 tie in the 11th inning.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bob Watson is here. He was the one that uttered the line in the movie.

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KAGAN: Well, you can say, Remember it's only a game, but a lot is on the line, especially this season with a strike looming.

CNN sports correspondent Josie Karp was at the game, and she's had a chance to talk with some unhappy fans in Milwaukee this morning -- Josie, it seems like wherever you go, news and controversy seems to pop up. Good morning.

JOSIE KARP, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Are you blaming this on me? Good morning.

KAGAN: I'm giving you credit for a good story.

KARP: Let me just set the scene a little bit. We've talked all week long about the fact that baseball is having labor woes during this All-Star break when the game is supposed to be celebrated. So for at these three hours last night, owners and players were both hoping that everyone would focus their attention back on the game. And inevitably that is what happened, but it wasn't under the circumstances that anyone involved had anticipated. It actually was a very good game from an All-Star standpoint, up until the finish. It was back and forth, it featured great plays.

And even early on, when the starting pitcher, Curt Schilling from the Arizona Diamondbacks, left the game -- he came into the interview room, and I was there to listen to him speak. He said, this is the kind of game that makes you realize how great baseball is, how fabulous it is. That we can't let anything interrupt America's pastime.

So then we get to the conclusion, late at night. And you knew something was up when the commissioner, Bud Selig, whose hometown is here in Milwaukee, called the two managers over to his field-side box. It was announced that the last half of the 11th inning would be the last inning. The game was tied. It ended on a beautiful curveball from Freddy Garcia of the Seattle Mariners, but it didn't make anyone happy. The commissioner said because of the circumstances, the fact that neither side had any pitchers left, he had no choice but to call the game.

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BUD SELIG, COMMISSIONER, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: They did absolutely the right thing. They tried to get everybody in the game. They saved a pitcher for late innings. I understood the crowd reaction. I tried, in a short period of time, to figure anything -- any alternatives -- out that I could, but they're out of players and they had nobody to pitch. And the thing would have become even a worse farce in the 12th inning if we went to some bizarre-type option. So we'll have to review whether we expand rosters or do other things. I don't know. That's something that we will have to discuss so we avoid this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is stupid. Major league baseball has a black eye any ways with the labor situation. This is -- out here celebrating baseball and what a dumb decision. If they're going to have some lame excuse about the players were used up -- It's an exhibition. Let them come back out and play again. Get some retired players out there to play. This is just stupid.

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KARP: This situation isn't unprecedented in baseball history, but it only happened one other time, a tie All-Star game. That was back in 1961 at Boston's Fenway Park, but that was a weather situation that intervened. And it's hard to imagine that anyone came out worse in this situation than Bud Selig here in Milwaukee. You go back to the home run derby here in Miller Park on Monday night. He was actually booed in his hometown when he handed the trophy to Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees.

Again, there's an understanding that practically -- Yes, you can figure why they had to call the game, but in the big picture, everything that baseball is going through, it's hard to imagine, Daryn, that anything worse could have happened at this All-Star game.

KAGAN: And Bud Selig takes great pride in being a historian, a history buff of baseball. Unfortunately, he goes and makes this kind of history, as he hosts the All-Star game in his home town. We've been getting, Josie -- getting quite a few e-mails from viewers who have been thinking about this, so I want to read a couple of them and get your comments.

This is from Rand in West Palm Beach. He says, "Are Americans getting that selfish that they think players should risk injury over an exhibition game? The fans got 11 innings of ball (2 more than usual) and the chance to see 'all' their all-stars! They'll get over it."

I mean, he does make the point that sometimes at the All-Star game, you probably don't get to see everyone play. You got to see every single player play, and now they're talking about maybe expanding the rosters for future All-Star games so that this doesn't turn out to be a problem in the future.

KARP: You know, this person who wrote the e-mail has a very similar attitude to most of the players that I talked to after the game. Their point was, this was a fabulous game. What more could you ask for? Except for that small little thing about having a winner and a loser. They thought that just being involved -- they thought it was a fabulous game, that the fans couldn't ask for anything more. They did say they understood some of the chants, because baseball -- the beauty of this game is that unlike football, unlike basketball, there is no clock. You're supposed to play until you have a winner. In this situation, you have to understand this, according to the players, it's an exhibition. Yes, they wanted to win, but they were happy to be a part of it. And this e-mailer seems to have their attitude in mind.

KAGAN: And there are multi-million dollar salaries on the line. Here's what I'm hoping, Josie. I'm hoping that the 7-7 tie is symbolic of what we can expect from the labor talks going on. That there won't have to be winner; they can just tie and move on and do what's best for the game.

KARP: Well, that's the optimist's view. The pessimist's view -- I'm sorry, I have to present it...

KAGAN: OK.

KARP: Maybe this All-Star game is an omen and it mean the season won't get finished, just like the game was unable to finish.

KAGAN: Got it. All right. Josie Karp from Milwaukee, thanks for bringing us the story.

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