MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 14, 2003

Luis Aparicio

Jackie Autry

Dusty Baker

Gary Carter

Brian Giles

Esteban Loaiza

Jason Schmidt

Mike Scioscia

BOB DUPUY: Good morning. I'm Bob Dupuy, president of Major League Baseball and I will serve at the emcee today. Welcome to the 74th MLB All-Star Game and the 71st anniversary of the first All-Star Game played here in Chicago in 1933. Before we start I want to thank Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago for the wonderful job they have done. I want to thank the Chicago White Sox, all of the people connected with the White Sox for all they have done. Chicago was called the second city, but in terms of Major League Baseball All-Star games, it is a City of firsts. The first game was played here in 1933. Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune who did it in conjunction with the Worlds Fair in 1933, it included Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Al Simmons. The first televised game was in Chicago in 1950. It went to 48 states, had a single television announcer, the great Jack Brickhouse who was both the Cubs and White Sox announcer and, in fact, was Major League Baseball's first extra-inning All-Star Game. In 1983, the last time the White Sox hosted a game, you had the first and only Grand Slam home run hit by Fred Lynn in the game here. This is the seventh time the city has hosted the All-Star Game, the fourth time the White Sox have hosted the All-Star Game, the first time of course at U.S. Cellular Field and the first time that the winner will determine home-field advantage in the World Series. Who would have guessed that what started in 1933 as an adjunct to the Worlds Fair will go out to 122 nations in 12 languages, and now constitutes a five-day celebration of baseball starting with the John Hancock All-Star FanFest which opened last Friday, following with the Radio Shack All-Star Sunday yesterday and today of course the Gatorade Workout Day and Century 21 Home Run Derby, and the game tomorrow. In the three games that were held at Comiskey Park, a grand total of 140,000 people attended. This year more than a quarter of a million people will in some way touch the All-Star Game in Chicago and tens of millions will experience it worldwide through television, through the radio, and through the Internet. I want to start by introducing the American League honorary captain to make a few comments about participating here in All-Star week. He needs no introduction in Chicago, he's a 12-time All-Star who led the Chicago White Sox to the 1959 American League pennant, he was one of baseball's greatest all-time shortstops and clearly one of the greatest defensive shortstops, holds numerous Major League records as a shortstop. He was the first Venezuelan elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1984. I am honored and pleased to introduce Luis Aparicio.

LUIS APARICIO: Thank you for this honor, being an All-Star for 12 years, this is going to be my 14th. I thank God for keeping me playing this game and I thank you Americans for giving me the opportunity to play this game. I come from a place where since I was a kid, this was my dream, and my first dream was April 17, 1956 when I played my first big league ballgame right here in Chicago. I don't have too much to say, but I'm really happy. I'm very glad to be here. Thank you. (Applause).

BOB DUPUY: I'd like to introduce the National League honorary captain, he was an 11-time All-Star, including eight straight times as the National League starting catcher, led the Expos to the playoffs in 1981, of course led the Mets to the world championship, he's one of only four players to be named the All-Star Game's MVP twice, and, of course, most importantly and as everyone knows, in two weeks time he will be he inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, Gary Carter.

GARY CARTER: Thank you, Bob. I appreciate that very much. And folks, welcome, and especially here to Chicago. It's truly an honor for me, too, to be a member of the National League squad and to be the honorary captain. It's nice to be in the same dugout with Dusty Baker who was one of the coaches when I was playing for the Giants in 1990. I want to congratulate Jason Schmidt on his starting role here, too. And if I have anything to do with in the dugout, because there is so much emphasis on the winning of this for home-field advantage, I guarantee you, I'll be giving a lot of high-fives in the dugout. I want to wish Mike Scioscia all the best. We were also teammates in '91 with the Dodgers and I want to congratulate him for his World Series championship. All in all, this has become a big extravaganza, and I must say that the City of Chicago could not be a better place to host this All-Star, and All-Star Game and I'm just proud to be a part of it. Thank you.

BOB DUPUY: Although she sold her interest in the team to Disney several years prior, no one could have been more excited about the Anaheim Angels filling their 43-year void with a world championship than our American League president, long-time baseball executive, Jackie Autry.

JACKIE AUTRY: When the commissioner asked me to take this job, I never thought I would be introducing the manager that took the California/Anaheim Angels to the World Series. I still think of them as the California Angels, and I never dreamed that I would be standing here wearing a World Series ring, so this is really special for me. Mike did a fabulous job with our club last year. All of you realize how important this game is for us and for future years, because we were the wildcard last year, and not having home-field advantage was certainly against us all the time. Mike received numerous awards last year, including Manager of the Year from a variety of organizations. It looks like he'll bring us a winner again, I think this year. And as you know, Mike had a very wonderful career with the Dodger organization, both as a manager and as a Minor League manager and as a catcher, and he starts his fourth year as manager with the Anaheim Angels. I'd like to introduce my friend and the American League All-Star manager, Mike Scioscia. (Applause).

MIKE SCIOSCIA: Thank you. Needless to say, I'm very excited about this year's ballgame, this year's All-Star event. Not only because having an opportunity to be part of it, but I think what it represents to the players. I think for the first time, players have a voice, a strong voice, in who is going to be selected to the team. I think that when you are selected by your peers, it has a lot more meaning. And every player that's going to participate in the game was selected by their peers this year. It's a special meaning to be recognized by the people that are out there that you're competing against. I think it's a special group. I'm excited to be part of it. I think with a little more on the line, it will make the game more interesting, definitely for the fans and the media. But pride is what has motivated players to compete and to give everything they have in this game for years, and that won't change. That's going to be the motivating factor for the players. It's going to be an exciting ballgame. We are excited. We have a terrific ballclub. I think what makes it special is I know Dusty is probably the most competitive person I've ever met, and I know how much he's going to want to win. So when we beat him, it's going to make it a little extra special. (Laughter.)

DUSTY BAKER: No trades yet, but, Scioscia, you owe me one. You already got me last fall. That's all right.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: We have Ichiro Suzuki leading off. He'll be in right field. Alfonso Soriano will be hitting second at second base. Carlos Delgado will hit third and play first base. Alex Rodriguez will bat clean-up and he will play shortstop. Garret Anderson will start in left field for us, will hit fifth. Edgar Martinez will hit sixth and be our DH. Matsui will play centerfield and hit seventh. Troy Glaus will hit eighth and play third base and Jorge Posada will catch and he will bat ninth. Starting pitcher, right to my left here, Esteban Loaiza. He has had an incredible arm for many years. As much as we compete, it's a good feeling when a guy has so much talent and he puts it together the way that Esteban has this year. He's certainly deserving of this honor. I know he's going to pitch very well.

ESTEBAN LOAIZA: I just want to say I'm really happy to be here. Like Mike Scioscia said, I've always had the talent and I've proven now this year and I just want to continue to keep on doing it. It's been great for me, and I'm really happy to be here all the time, coming to the ballpark, coming here to the City of Chicago. Just going after my game all the time.

BOB DUPUY: Thank you very much. Son of the long-time Major League executive and National League president Warren Giles, Bill Giles was the long-time owner of the Philadelphia Phillies and has been the honorary National League president now for, I think this is the third year. Bill actually started his baseball career in next year's host of the All-Star Game, Houston. Bill Giles.

BILL GILES: From 1951 to 1969, when my father was president of the National League, the National League won 18 games in the All-Star Game and lost five, including 12 of the last 13. I think one of the reasons the National League did so well during that time was the passion that my father had in beating my good friends in the American League. He really wanted to win the World Series every year, win the All-Star Game, draw more people than the American League, and at every All-Star Game he would go in the clubhouse and give the players a real pep talk about beating the other league. Even during the World Series, when we were flying charter flights in those days with executives from each league, he wanted the National League plane to take off first and land first. That's how competitive he was. I think it was really to get a martini quicker, but anyway... Somehow, during the All-Star Game in the past 12, 15 years, the passion that my father had for the game kind of left the All-Star Game and became more like an exhibition game. Everybody got in the game and it bothered me because the All-Star Game is the premiere sporting event every summer. There isn't any sporting event that's watched as much as this game tomorrow night. So I went to Bud Selig about ten years ago, and said, why don't we get an award for the team that wins it, give the home-field advantage during the World Series to the League that wins it. So, finally, we've done it. I'm happy they have done it, and let's hope that it's a very competitive game. And Dusty, outstanding manager for the last 10 or 11 years, took the San Francisco Giants up to the seventh game of the World Series last year. Now with the Chicago Cubs, I have a little problem, Dusty. I'm 0-2 as the honorary National League president in the All-Star Game. So it's up to you.

DUSTY BAKER: I'd just like to say thank you. It's a tremendous honor and a privilege for me to manage the National League team. We have a good team, we have some good players in our league. I think it's going to be an exciting ballgame. I remember my first All-Star Game in 1981 in Cleveland. I walked in the clubhouse and Pete Rose greeted me at the door and he told me, he says, "We haven't lost to these guys in like nine years. So we are not going to lose now." So that was like pressure right as soon as I walked in the door, and that let me know how much pride there was really in the All-Star Game and how much pride there was in the National League at that time beating the American League. I know the American League has evened the score quite a bit over the past few years, but I think it's going to be a very competitive game. The guys play hard. The guys are looking forward to the game. I feel very, very privileged and honored by the fact that last year I went to the World Series with the Giants, and I know how important it was for that seventh game, to be in Anaheim versus San Francisco. I'm very pleased to name Jason Schmidt as the starting pitcher. I know everybody wanted to ask me the last three or four days, everybody wanted the scoop, but now I can tell you it's Jason Schmidt. I'm very, very happy to have him here, because without Jason Schmidt, I probably wouldn't be sitting here now as the National League manager. So I would like to thank all of the players, especially the players on the Giants last year, for helping put me in this position. Our lineup is Edgar Renteria, he's batting first, the shortstop, Jim Edmonds is batting second, center fielder. Albert Pujols, left fielder, batting third. Barry Bonds is DH. Gary Sheffield, batting fifth, playing right field. Todd Helton batting sixth, playing first base. Third base is Scott Rolen, batting seventh. Catcher is Javy Lopez and our second baseman is Jose Vidro because we had an injury to Marcus Giles and our starting pitcher is Jason Schmidt.

JASON SCHMIDT: We are all honored to be here. This is one of the highlights of my career and I'm happy to be back here sitting next to Dusty. I haven't seen him in quite a while. He's a big reason I'm here. He gave me some confidence in my career and so I'd like to thank him for the opportunity to start. It's an honor to be here.

BOB DUPUY: We obviously thank the captain, the League presidents, the managers and the starting pitcher for being here. We thank all of you for being here. We welcome you to Chicago and the game. We will now throw it open for questions for the group. Please wait until the microphone gets to you before you ask your question.

JASON SCHMIDT: I was talking to Esteban the other day, "What if we were facing each other in the All-Star Game, what irony that would be." Here we are. I think we've both come a long ways in our careers. We've learned a lot, and here we are. It's an honor to be here. It's going to be exciting.

ESTEBAN LOAIZA: I think it's going to be really good. Jason Schmidt, being with him in Pittsburgh for a couple of years, especially playing in the interleague, Chicago playing against the Chicago White Sox, we talked in the outfield of us starting this game, and we had a good conversation about just keep on going the way we've been going and see what happens. Now we are in the All-Star Game starting against one another. We know each other for quite a while and now we're here. We've just got to do our job tomorrow and see what happens.

DUSTY BAKER: A lot depends on the score and the game; I mean, I'm going to try to play guys. I'm going to try to win the game, as well. Anybody that knows me knows I try to play every game to win. I don't care if I'm playing my mom or my daughter or my wife; it doesn't matter who. I'm going to try to win. That's how it is and that's how I am and I feel like that's how our players are. So, you know, I just don't like guys who travel thousands of miles and don't get an opportunity to play in front of family and friends, so hopefully we can do both.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think we all have to be sensitive to pitcher's careers and arms and where they are in their rotation and how much gas they have in their tank at this time between starts. I have had some communication with Carlos Tosca and Roy Halladay is available to pitch. I'm not going to tell Dusty how long or when because he'll start to formulate a plan. Roy, he is available to pitch. I think there was maybe a little much to-do but not that much. We are going to be sensitive to any pitcher's needs and we are going to take a poll of the pitchers as we get into the workout today to see how their arms are. For example, Jaime Moyer threw 118 pitches his last start so we want to see how much we can use him and how much they can give us. We will put it together. I know how much Roy wants to be here and how much he wants to compete and contribute, and he will represent the Toronto organization very well.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: I've looked at this a lot of different ways. I think it's going to be tough to do both. It's going to be tough to manage for matchups and get everybody in the game. So I think that I'm going to have to apologize to a lot of guys in advance that might not get an opportunity to play in the game tomorrow. I'm certainly going to do everything we can do to have everybody experience and get in and play. I think No. 1 is to go out there and make sure we have matchups as close as we can get them to give ourselves the best chance to win and as we move on, if the score is one way or the other, we'll have leeway to do a little bit more. I know it's going to be very, very difficult to do both, to get everybody in the game and keep matchups. So I would have to say right now, I would have to apologize to some guys in advance to say that there's a probability they won't play and go on from there.

DUSTY BAKER: I'm not quite sure if he knows he's DHing yet. (Laughter.) No, the thing about it is, I talked to Reggie Younger, the traveling secretary, and I could not get Barry in Colorado. I talked to Reggie; Reggie found him and he said he didn't mind DHing. He just didn't know what the rules were, if the League was going to let him DH or not. Initially I was going to have to have somebody else DH and then change the next inning but the League saw fit, since the American League had a DH that I could have Barry Bonds as a DH. Out of respect to Barry, what he's done and the fact how long and how hard he's played, I think he deserved that right to have a first shot at DH.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: I didn't hear anything about this. Barry is supposed to play left field, isn't he? Wasn't he voted in as an outfielder?

DUSTY BAKER: Yes, yes. He was now we are playing by American League rules. If it was up to me, Barry would be DHing, but since it's up to me --

MIKE SCIOSCIA: We might have to investigate some of this. Hang on. (Laughter.)

DUSTY BAKER: Well, I mean, if that's the way it is, that's how we've got to play it. The rules are the rules. The thing about it is, it does give a little more initiative, I guess and a little more excitement to the game itself. After being in the World Series last year and not having that seventh game, I would have loved to have that seventh game last year in San Francisco, and hopefully we can bring that back to the National League this year.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think a couple things. Personally, I believe that home-field advantage is maybe not as much as people make it out to be. I know there are stats in the World Series that show it, but my own experience with our club last year, not having home-field advantage going into New York and losing the first game; and then beating the Yankees, going into Minnesota, two very, very tough clubs. And losing the first ballgame and then winning the series, I think it's more important how you're playing at that time than where you're playing. Even in the World Series, both clubs won one game on the opposition's field, and I think both clubs played very, very good, whether we were playing home or away. I think one game, we got blown out of San Francisco in Game 5. But for the most part, you saw good baseball. We were really concentrating on the way we were playing, not who we were playing or where we were playing. I think that's what you want to focus on. So I think although home-field advantage does give you a slight edge, I don't know if it's the end-all thing where you can say, whoever wins this ballgame, the team that represents that league in the World Series is going to have an undo or unjust advantage because they are getting home field out of this game. I don't see it that way.

DUSTY BAKER: I'm very impressed with how he's handled it. I remember last year in spring training when Jason came into my office and told me his mother was sick at that time and he needed to go home, and I was coming off my illness at the same time. So we talked about it, we talked about a lot of things at that time. I was very impressed how he's handled it. I've never been through it before and I would have -- I might be calling him some day for some tips on how to handle a death in the family. He pitched the first game back against us in San Francisco, and he pitched a heck of a ballgame, and I could tell at that time that we would not have beaten Jason Schmidt under any circumstances because he was pitching with a higher intensity and a higher power than I had ever seen before. As a manager, this is one of the few ways that you can reward your players for helping you to get to where you are. So I was very, very pleased. I called Dave Righetti and he talked to Jason and asked whether he would like to have him start and he said it would be a tremendous honor. And I said it's in memory for not only what he's done for me, but in memory for his mother at the same time.

MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think that Japan has always had a terrific tradition of great baseball. I had an opportunity to go over and experience it myself firsthand. There's a lot of there's a lot of terrific ballplayers in Japan, and as they have crossed over into the Major Leagues they have made a statement of the talent that's in Japan. If you have any more like Matsui or Suzuki, bring them over. They are two terrific ballplayers. And I had personal experience with Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and I don't think you're going to find -- you're not going to find a pitcher that has a better spirit anywhere or a better competitive nature than him. Shigetoshi is incredible and he's well deserved to be on the All-Star Team. I know when he's gets in there, he's going to show the world what a great pitcher that he is.

ESTEBAN LOAIZA: Well, it's really special. I've been hearing all the time that I was going to be in the All-Star Game, and they wanted me to be the starter. So now everything came true. I'm representing the Chicago White Sox on my home field, and I'm really happy to be here. It's just so special for me, and I think for a lot of fans, that they will be going to the ballpark and saying my name, and maybe in the home opener. To be in the All-Star Game is just one of the things I'm really excited about. I'm really happy, and there's not much that I can say. Just got to enjoy this, enjoy this moment and enjoy today and then tomorrow.