MILWAUKEE, July 10 (UPI) -- On a night and a time when Major League Baseball could not afford anymore negatives or another black eye, it got one.
The annual Mid-Summer Classic was halted after 11 innings Tuesday night, with the American and National Leagues tied at seven.
The decision to call the contest was made by Commissioner Bud Selig between the top and bottom half of the 11th inning, after consulting with the managers of both teams, Joe Torre of the New York Yankees and Arizona's Bob Brenly. Both had used up all of their position players, were down to their last pitchers, and were reluctant to push the proverbial button.
Brenly had to remove reliever Vicente Padilla of Philadelphia, who had difficulty getting loose when he pitched in the 10th inning.
Fans immediately began throwing objects on the field, ruining what was supposed to be the crowning moment of Selig's tenure as commissioner. He was booed vociferously by fans who were still at Miller Park in Milwaukee when the game ended, many of whom chanted, "let them play" and "refund." This on a night when the game celebrated its 30 greatest moments.
American League reliever Freddy Garcia of Seattle struck out San Francisco's Benito Santiago for the game's final out.
"This is not the way I wanted this to end," Selig said at a postgame news conference. "I am saddened by it. I want to thank the fans that were (still here)."
Torre and Brenly agreed with Selig's decision.
"I feel bad for Bud, especially here," Torre said. "But the fact of the matter is that Bob and I had talked about this: When you have players come to an All-Star Game, you want to get them in. The down side is, if you get them all in and it's the ninth, 10th, 11th inning, you can't have it both ways. The last thing I want to do is get a pitcher hurt and send Freddy Garcia back to (Seattle Manager) Lou Piniella saying he can't pitch."
Both Garcia and Padilla pitched two innings apiece.
"These organizations, their managers entrust us with their players," Brenly added. "The last thing we want to do is send a guy home who is not going to be able to compete for the ballclub that's paying his salary."
Pre-game festivities brought out some of the game's biggest legends.
On hand for the celebration of the 30 most memorable moments were all-time home run leader Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and the recently-retired Cal Ripken Jr.
Baseball also took time to pay tribute to legendary hitter Ted Williams, who died Friday in Florida. His No. 9 was painted into a patch of grass in left field, and a video of parts of his illustrious career was shown.
During the contest, the AL erased an early 4-0 deficit, San Francisco superstar Barry Bonds hit a two-run homer and was robbed of a second homer on a marvelous leap and catch by AL centerfielder Torii Hunter of Minnesota, and there was another unfortunate meltdown by Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim, who surrendered half the four runs scored by the AL in the eighth in relief of Mike Remlinger of Atlanta.
Finally, because the game had to be called, there was no MVP Award given, and it was the second time the contest ended in a tie. The only other time was in 1961 when it was stopped by rain.
