Major League Baseball witnessed an event to remember during the 1999 All-Star Game when Boston Red Sox icon Ted Williams rode onto the field on a golf cart at Fenway Park.
The legendary hitter threw out the first pitch and greeted a congregation of legendary players from the past and the present.
On the 25th anniversary of that All-Star Game, FOX Sports analysts Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz recalled that night and their memories of Williams.
Jeter was the only member of the trio on the field that night and explained how quickly such a special moment in time came together.
“It was all spontaneous,” Jeter shared on the FOX Sports broadcast. “We were just supposed to stand on the lines and everyone went to gather around Ted Williams. I was sort of staying away from it a little bit because I didn’t want to get too close and get in the way.”
Jeter also raved about Hank Aaron. who at the time held the all-time record for home runs at 755.
Ortiz’s Red Sox career ultimately put him in a class with Williams. While he did not play in the 1999 contest, Big Papi holds all the respect in the world for another legendary hitter.
“On a serious note, every time a conversation comes by about Mr. Ted Williams and we think about a real hero, he’s the one guy,” Ortiz shared on the broadcast. “Think about this, guys. You shut it down for three years to go to World War II. Do your thing and come back years later. It was like (he never left). That is (a) real hero thing. Mad respect for my man.”
Rodriguez had a rare absence from the All-Star Game in 1999 while dealing with a leg injury and recalled watching the moment on TV.
“It was royalty all over the place,” Rodriguez remembered. “First of all, starting with Fenway Park and all the legends and the king himself, Ted Williams. I was so bummed and so depressed that I was at home.”
You can read NESN’s oral history of the 1999 MLB All-Star Game at Fenway Park here.
