Final roster spot

After the rosters were revealed, a second ballot of five players per league was created for the All-Star Final Vote to determine the 33rd and final player of each roster. The NL Winner was Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies and the AL winner was Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers. Pablo Sandoval and Ian Kinsler finished a close second in their respective leagues.

Coaching staff

American League team manager Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays selected Kansas City Royals manager Trey Hillman and Seattle Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu as coaches for the team along with the rest of his Tampa Bay staff. Both Hillman and Wakamatsu participated in their first All-Star game this year, while Maddon managed the All-Star squad for the first time after participating as a coach in 2003.

National League manager Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies selected Tony La Russa of the host St. Louis Cardinals and Joe Torre of the Los Angeles Dodgers as his coaches. Torre previously managed the Cardinals from 1990-1995. La Russa has managed an All-Star team five times, and led the 2005 and 2007 NL teams. This was Torre's first NL All-Star coaching position; he has managed an AL All-Star team six times. Manuel previously coached the AL All-Star team in 2002's tie game under Torre.

Rosters

Votes were cast online and at the 30 MLB ballparks. Verizon replaced Monster as the sponsor of the online portion of balloting. There was a limit of 25 votes per e-mail address, but no limit to the number of ballots cast at the stadium. The deadline to cast votes was July 2, and the results were broadcast on the TBS All-Star Selection show on July 5. Albert Pujols was the leading vote-getter in the majors with 5,397,374 votes, while Derek Jeter was the vote leader in the American League.

Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

American League

Reserves

National League

Reserves

|Carlos Peña replaced Dustin Pedroia on the roster due to family obligation; Aaron Hill replaced Pedroia as starter at second base. |Chone Figgins replaced Evan Longoria on the roster due to injury; Michael Young replaced Longoria as starter at third base. |Nelson Cruz replaced Torii Hunter on the roster due to injury. |Zach Duke replaced Matt Cain on the roster due to injury. |Trevor Hoffman replaced Jonathan Broxton on the roster due to injury. |Jayson Werth replaced Carlos Beltrán on the roster due to injury; Shane Victorino replaced Beltrán as starter in center field.

• This player did not start.

This player did not play.

Game

Ceremonies

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung by Sheryl Crow for the second year in a row. Stan Musial, a former player for the host St. Louis Cardinals and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, gave the baseball for the ceremonial first pitch to the President of the United States Barack Obama, who threw it to the hometown Cardinals' first baseman and leading All-Star vote-getter, Albert Pujols, while wearing a White Sox jacket. During the seventh-inning stretch, Sara Evans sang "God Bless America".

By contrast, little attention was paid to the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada". An instrumental version was played through stadium speakers during the opening ceremonies, a move criticized by Canadian player Justin Morneau.

Starting lineups

Umpires

HR Derby/Bullpen Catchers

Game summary

The American League got off to a quick start in the top of the first inning by scoring two runs. Ichiro Suzuki led off the game with a single to right field, then Derek Jeter reached base on a hit-by-pitch. With one out, Mark Teixeira hit a groundball that was misplayed by first baseman Albert Pujols allowing Jeter to score the game's first run. Josh Hamilton later added an RBI groundout. The National League answered in the bottom of the second inning by scoring three runs. Singles by David Wright, Shane Victorino and Yadier Molina, plus a ground rule double by Prince Fielder, all with two outs, gave the NL the lead. The American League tied the score at three in the fifth on a two-out double by Joe Mauer off Chad Billingsley, and retook the lead when Adam Jones drove in Curtis Granderson, who tripled off Heath Bell, on a sacrifice fly in the eighth. American League pitchers at one point retired 18 straight batters (and 22 of the final 24) on just 48 pitches before Joe Nathan walked Adrián González with two outs in the eighth. Nathan, however, struck out Ryan Howard with runners on second and third to end the threat. Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn a record fourth All-Star Game save. Carl Crawford went 1-for-3 but made a great defensive catch in the seventh inning to rob Brad Hawpe of a home run. Crawford was given the MLB All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player award.

This was the seventh straight win for the American League since the All-Star game had first been used to determine home-field advantage for the World Series. The AL improved to 12-0-1 since its 1996 defeat in Philadelphia — the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history. It was also the first All-Star game without a home run by either league since the 1999 Midsummer Classic in Fenway Park.

Related events

• The All-Star Fan Fest, an amusement park and a quasi-museum, was held July 10–14 at America's Center.
• The Pepsi All-Star Concert, one of two new events on the calendar, featuring St. Louis native Sheryl Crow, was held at the Gateway Arch on July 11.
• The Sirius XM Radio All-Star Futures Game and the Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game were held July 12 at Busch Stadium. The World team won the Futures game, 7-5 after seven innings due to rain. Another new event, The Sports Authority/Nike 5K Race and Fun Run, was also held.
• The Gatorade Workout Day and State Farm Home Run Derby took place at Busch Stadium on July 13. Prince Fielder defeated Nelson Cruz in the final round to win the Home Run Derby.
• The Chevrolet Red Carpet All-Star Parade was held on the day of the game in front of Busch Stadium, and carried on MLB Network via tape delay.
• Hall of Famer Stan Musial gave the ceremonial first pitch to United States President Barack Obama to throw to the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols. President Obama thus became the first sitting president to do so since Gerald Ford in 1976.

Broadcasters

The game was televised live in the United States, and in Canada through the Fox Network by Fox Sports, with announcers Joe Buck (play-by-play); Tim McCarver (color commentator); and Ken Rosenthal, Chris Rose, and Eric Karros (field reporters). MLB International televised the game in English outside of the U.S., with announcers Gary Thorne (play-by-play) and Rick Sutcliffe (color commentator). The American Forces Network also carried the game to U.S. service personnel stationed around the globe.

ESPN Radio broadcast the game, with Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Dave Campbell (color commentator). Peter Pascarelli and John Rooney served as field reporters.

References

References

1. Leach, Matthew. (July 16, 2008). "Countdown begins for '09 All-Star Game". MLB.com.
2. (January 16, 2007). "St. Louis gets 2009 All-Star game". [[USA Today]].
3. ESPN news services. (January 16, 2007). "Selig signs off on 2009 All-Star Game for St. Louis". [[ESPN.com]].
4. Matthew, Leach. (January 16, 2007). "St. Louis awarded 2009 All-Star Game". MLB.com.
5. (March 19, 2009). "Ballpark Village site to become softball field, parking lot for now". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
6. Newman, Mark. (April 22, 2009). "All-Star balloting kicks off on MLB.com". MLB.com.
7. (June 17, 2009). "American League, National League All-Star Game staffs announced". MLB.com.
8. Newman, Mark. (July 5, 2009). "All-Star Selection Show live now on TBS". MLB.com.
9. Leach, Matthew. (July 5, 2009). "Pujols leads Majors in All-Star votes". MLB.com.
10. Schlegel, John. (July 5, 2009). "Pujols, Jeter lead star-studded rosters". MLB.com.
11. (July 14, 2009). "Musial part of special moment at Classic: Cards' great hands ball to Obama after entering field on cart". MLB.com.
12. (July 15, 2009). "B.C. slugger not happy with instrumental O Canada". CTV News.
13. "2009 All-Star Game: Events".
14. (July 15, 2009). "Crawford's glove runs AL's unbeaten streak to 13 All-Star Games". ESPN.com.
15. (July 15, 2009). "Crawford's catch in 7th clinches award". ESPN.com.