Game Notes – 2025 All-Star Game

A jubilant Ted Williams almost galloping around the basepaths in the aftermath of his swing against Claude Passeau in 1941.  Stan Musial thrilling the crowd at County Stadium with his typically understated trot from home to home in 1955.  Johnny Callison taming The Monster – Dick Radatz – with a blast down the right field line in 1964. 

Three All-Star Games have concluded the star-packed gathering with a swing … the baseball soaring until it thuds somewhere beyond an outfield wall … and a proud batter traveling 360 feet with a few left turns to receive a hero’s welcome back at the plate.  In the NL’s win in 2025, the deciding swing and soar presented differently:  no trot to consummate the cut; this outcome produced from a HR Derby required after nine innings left the game as it started, tied.  

Kyle Schwarber’s blast to put the exclamation point on a swing-off that gave the NL a victory was more than an unprecedented entry into almost a century’s worth of All-Star Games.  It was a final declaration in a night filled with names and performances that connected to those that have graced the diamonds for the previous 94 editions of Midsummer Classics.  Here are some items that stood out for me.  

Paul Skenes (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K’s) made his second straight appearance as the NL’s starting pitcher.  At 23 years and 47 days old for this one, he’s the third hurler to have multiple starts under his belt before turning 24 years old, joining Don Drysdale (who started each of the games in 1959, during the short-lived run when two contests each season were played) and Dwight Gooden, who opened the 1986 and 1988 Midsummer Classics.  

Tarik Skubal’s start (1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 K’s) made him the 12th Tigers pitcher to get the honor for the AL and the first since Max Scherzer in 2013.  Skubal is one of three Detroit southpaws to receive the assignment, following Hal Newhouser in 1947 and Kenny Rogers in 2006.    

Clayton Kershaw (0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K) made his eighth All-Star appearance on the mound and with this effort, tied for the third most.  All those with at least eight, along with their innings, ERA and strikeout numbers, organized by most appearances:

10     Roger Clemens (13.0 IP, 4.15 ERA, 9 K’s)

9       Mariano Rivera (9.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 K’s)

8       Jim Bunning (18.0 IP, 1.00 ERA, 13 K’s)

8       Don Drysdale (19.1 IP, 1.40 ERA, 19 K’s)

8       Juan Marichal (18.0 IP, 0.50 ERA, 12 K’s)

8       Tom Seaver (13.0 IP, 4.85 ERA, 16 K’s)

8       Randy Johnson (12.0 IP, 0.75 ERA, 12 K’s)

8       Clayton Kershaw (7.2 IP, 3.52 ERA, 6 K’s)

Brent Rooker delivered a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the seventh for the AL’s first runs of the evening:  the 23rd round-tripper from a pinch-hitter in All-Star history.  For the AL’s side of things, Rooker became the 12th hero of the moment, a lineage beginning with Larry Doby and his game-tying shot in the eighth inning in 1954.  Doby is one of four Hall of Famers on this list of 12, along with Harmon Killebrew in 1961, Reggie Jackson in 1971 and Carl Yastrzemski in 1975.  The others:  Pete Runnels (1962), Cookie Rojas (1972), Frank White (1986), Hank Blalock (2003), Víctor Martínez (2007), Brian Dozier (2015) and Jean Segura (2018).

Steven Kwan’s two-out single in the top of the ninth tied the game at six and made Kwan the 21st player in All-Star history to produce a game-tying or go-ahead hit so late in a contest.  Within this collection, Kwan’s is one of six to come with two outs.  The five others:

~Ted Williams’ three-run walk-off homer with the AL trailing 5-4 in the ninth in 1941

~Johnny Callison’s three-run walk-off homer for the NL in a 4-4 game in the ninth in 1964

~Jim Hickman’s walk-off single for the NL in a 4-4 game in the 12th in 1970 

~Tim Raines’ go-ahead two-run triple for the NL to break a 0-0 tie in the 13th in 1987

~Michael Young’s go-ahead two-run triple to put the AL up-3-2 in the ninth in 2006

AL reserve Bobby Witt, Jr. drove in two runs.  With Witt and Brent Rooker coming off the bench to have multi-RBI days, this dual effort marked the eighth time teammates have done this.

AL Reserves With 2+ RBI in the Same Game

1934    Earl Averill and Red Ruffing

1946    Joe Gordon and Vern Stephens

1971    Reggie Jackson and Harmon Killebrew

1992    Roberto Kelly and Rubén Sierra

2025    Brent Rooker and Bobby Witt, Jr.

NL Reserves With 2+ RBI in the Same Game

1973    Bobby Bonds and Willie Davis

1985    Willie McGee and Ozzie Virgil

1992    Will Clark and Bip Roberts

Pete Alonso connected on a three-run home run for the NL for his second career crooked number in the RBI column in an All-Star Game (he drove in two runs in 2019).  The Mets first baseman is one of 16 players to have multiple multi-RBI games for a side in the Midsummer Classic.   Broken down by league representation.  

2+ RBI in Multiple Games While Representing the NL

Stan Musial

Gus Bell

Willie Mays

Johnny Bench

Tony Gwynn

Barry Bonds

Andruw Jones

Pete Alonso 

2+ RBI in Multiple Games While Representing the AL

Ted Williams (had three)

Fred Lynn (had three)

Al Kaline

Brooks Robinson

Harmon Killebrew

Lou Whitaker

Cal Ripken, Jr.

Ichiro Suzuki

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.