1990 All-Star Game

With the All-Star game coming up very shortly, I've been thinking about games past. One game in particular comes to mind, the 1990 All-Star game. Like this year's game, the White Sox only have two representatives.

1990's game was in Chicago, at Wrigley Field. I can remember Bill Murray's mugging face everywhere that night. It may have been in the Cubs' home park, but it was a White Sox night for me. Al Lopez was the A.L. Honorary Captain. I was just itching to see Ozzie Guillen and Bobby Thigpen enter the game.

I waited until the bottom of the sixth inning for my first White Sox sighting during the game. It was Ozzie Guillen. Ozzie replaced Rickey Henderson in the A.L. lineup, batting first and playing shortstop. Future White Sox George Bell slipped into left field in place of Rickey, since George pinch hit in place of Cal Ripken Jr.

Ozzie grounded out in the top of the seventh inning, off Jeff Brantley, right after the two runs scored on future White Sox Julio Franco's double. Yes, there were a lot of future White Sox players in this game.

Then in the bottom of the seventh, Bobby Thigpen took the mound. First up was Will Clark. Will grounded out. Then Tim Wallach stepped to the plate. Tim grounded out. Then Bobby strikes out Darryl Strawberry. It was a perfect inning for Bobby!

In the top of the eighth, Alan Trammell pinch hit for Bobby Thigpen and just like that, Bobby was done for the day. Bobby left with a perfect inning and a hold, before it was a recognized statistic.

Ozzie was up again, leading off, in the top of the ninth inning. This time, he was facing John Franco. Ozzie grounded out again. Ozzie stayed in the game, but never came close to the action. With Dennis Eckersley on the mound, the National League were all but finished.

The American League won that game 2-0. More importantly, I was able to see both White Sox players play in the game. That was something I really wasn't used to. It was a treat to see Bobby continue his success in the mid-summer classic. It was fun just to see Ozzie make it to the game.