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American Morning
Major League Baseball Gears Up for Midsummer Classic
Aired July 04, 2001 - 10:51 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: Coming on the All-Star break -- we're not quite there, but coming up on the All-Star break for Major League Baseball.
LAURA OKMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
KAGAN: And Laura Okmin is here to tell us more about that.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello.
OKMIN: Good morning, you guys.
We've got another good cast right now, it looks like, for 2001. The fireworks go off tomorrow night, but America's favorite pastime doesn't kick off its celebration until a week from today.
It's the 72nd All-Star classic. And this year it is just full of subplots from sentimental to coming home to a hometown flavor.
CNN Sports Illustrated Jeff Fischel introduces us to your 2001 all-stars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF FISCHEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the 72nd "Midsummer Classic," with footnotes and some sentimental surprises. The retiring Cal Ripken will be among the starters for a record 17th straight time and 19th appearance overall. He made up a 44,000 vote difference to overtake Seattle's David Bell and Anaheim's Troy Glaus in the final week.
ALEX RODRIGUEZ, AL STARTING SHORTSTOP: My first All-Star game as a starter in '96 or '97, he was at third base. And now in his last one it's kind of a generation gap closing. For me, I'm going to take some pictures. I'm going to try to steal some of his game shoes or his bat or something. So he'd better put a lock on it.
FISCHEL: But there are plenty of fresh faces, too: the Giants' Rich Aurilia and the Rockies' Todd Helton among those making their starting debuts.
RICH AURILIA, NL STARTING SHORTSTOP: It's nice to go on and just represent the Giants. They've been good to me throughout my whole career. They've stuck by me. And to go and be the first guy in 30 years to be shortstop from the Giants, it's a great thrill.
FISCHEL: Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners enjoying a pronounced home field voting advantage -- four players will start on familiar turf: Bret Boone at 2nd, John Olerud at 1st, Edgar Martinez as the DH and Ichiro Suzuki in the outfield. Ichiro was the overall leading vote-getter with nearly 3,400,000 votes -- the first time a Japanese player has been the top vote-getter in either league.
JOHN OLERUD, AL STARTING FIRST BASEMAN: I think he's been a big influence on our team. He's been a big reason why we have the record that we have. I mean, he's done an unbelievable job on offense, on defense, base running. I mean, he does it all really well.
BRET BOONE, AL STARTING SECOND BASEMAN: I think it's an honor to be recognized for what you're doing in a particular season, to be elected by the fans. And I think its going to be special, especially what's going on this year in Seattle.
FISCHEL: Former Mariner Alex Rodriguez gets the call at short, his fifth straight All-Star start. Teammate Ivan Rodriguez extends his streak, earning a 10th straight appearance.
Former Indians outfielder Manny Ramirez gets his third start in the outfield, while his RBI replacement in Cleveland, Juan Gonzalez, earns the third outfield slot.
Current home run leader Barry Bonds was the National League's top magnet, drawing just over two million votes. It's his eighth start and 10th appearance. Teammates Jeff Kent, the reigning National League MVP, and Aurilia, a shortstop, become the first middle infielders elected from the same team since Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr did it in 1985. Last year's top vote-getter, the Mets' Mike Piazza, earns his seventh All-Star start but may bow out because of a broken left toe.
Third baseman Chipper Jones is the lone Braves representative. And in one of the closest races, Arizona outfielder Luis Gonzalez, a first-time all-star starter, edged Larry Walker for a spot along side Sammy Sosa and Bonds.
I'm Jeff Fischel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKMIN: Well, we already had an all-star match up this morning on center court at Wimbledon. Jennifer Capriati was halfway to a sweep of this year's major tournaments. But hoping to stand in her way in today's quarterfinals match up: Serena Williams. Capriati beat Williams at last month's French Open. Could she do it again? Yes, she could and, yes, she did. Capriati moves on to the semifinals after beating Serena 6-7, 7-5, 6-3. She'll face Justine Henin on Thursday.
And I'm out of adjectives to describe her story.
KAGAN: Right. OKMIN: Just how wonderful...
NELSON: Yes.
OKMIN: . . . and so confident today. And it will do wonders as we see if she can make her way to the finals and add another one to her grand slam collection.
NELSON: All the more power to her.
KAGAN: A lot of people rooting for her -- Laura, thank you so much.
NELSON: Thank you.
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