1997 NPB All-Star Game

The 1997 NPB All-Star Games featured two contests, and both league won one game

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 23 at Osaka Dome in front of 28,969 fans. The CL was shut out while the PL collected 17 hits. Kazuo Matsui was 3-for-5 with four steals, and was named MVP. Satoru Komiyama pitched three shutout innings with three strikeouts to get the win, and Keiichi Yabu allowed two runs in two innings and got the loss for the second straight year.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Central	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
Pacific	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	-	5	17	0

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Kenjiro Nomura, SS (Hiroshima Carp)
2. Takuro Ishii, 3B (Yokohama BayStars)
3. Atsuya Furuta, C (Yakult Swallows)
4. Hideki Matsui, RF (Yomiuri Giants)
5. Bobby Rose, 2B (Yokohama)
6. Dwayne Hosey, DH (Yakult)
7. Kazuhiro Kiyohara, 1B (Yomiuri)
8. Tomoaki Kanemoto, LF (Hiroshima)
9. Tsuyoshi Shinjo, CF (Hanshin Tigers)

• Yutaka Ohno, P (Hiroshima)

Backups Used

• Motonobu Tanishige, C (Yokohama)
• Teruyoshi Kuji, SS (Hanshin)
• Takanori Suzuki, PH (Yokohama)
• Norihiro Komada, 1B (Yokohama)
• Shinjiro Hiyama, RF (Hanshin)
• Katsuhiro Hiratsuka, LF (Hanshin)
• Keiichi Yabu, P (Hanshin)
• Toshikazu Sawazaki, P (Hiroshima)
• Kazuya Tabata, P (Yakult)

Manager

• Shigeo Nagashima

Coaches

• Toshiyuki Mimura
• Senichi Hoshino

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF (Orix BlueWave)
2. Kazuo Matsui, SS (Seibu Lions)
3. Hiroki Kokubo, 2B (Daiei Hawks)
4. Koichiro Yoshinaga, DH (Daiei)
5. Tuffy Rhodes, LF (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
6. Ken Suzuki, 1B (Seibu)
7. Atsushi Kataoka, 3B (Nippon Ham Fighters)
8. Kenji Johjima, C (Daiei)
9. So Taguchi, CF (Orix)

• Kimiyasu Kudo, P (Daiei)

Backups Used

• Koji Akiyama, PH (Daiei)
• Tsutomu Itoh, C (Seibu)
• Makoto Kosaka, SS (Chiba Lotte Marines)
• Taisei Takagi, 1B (Seibu)
• Hiromitsu Ochiai, PH (Nippon Ham)
• Yukio Tanaka, 3B (Nippon Ham)
• Tatsuya Ide, CF (Nippon Ham)
• Satoru Komiyama, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Isao Koda, P (Kintetsu)
• Yasuyuki Kawamoto, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Hiroshi Kobayashi, P (Orix)

Manager

• Akira Ogi

Coaches

• Toshiharu Ueda
• Osamu Higashio

Umpires

• Hitoshi Watarida (Home), Takayasu Sakaemura (1B), Masanobu Suginaga (2B), Noriyuki Fujimoto (3B)

Game 2

Game 2 took place at the Meiji-Jingu Stadium July 24 with an attendance of 31,194. Kazuhiro Kiyohara blasted two homers in 2nd inning and 4th inning with 4 RBI to collected his 6th All-Star Game MVP. Hideki Matsui also blasted a solo shot in the 4th inning, and southpaw Masahiro Yamamoto got the win while he pitched three shutout innings with three strikeouts. Matsui stole twice, and Ichiro Suzuki was the only batter to hit more than one hits for PL.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	3	6	1
Central	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	1	-	6	9	0

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Ochiai, DH
2. K.Matsui, SS
3. Rhodes, LF
4. Ichiro, RF
5. Tanaka, 2B
6. Kataoka, 3B
7. Suzuki, 1B
8. Ide, CF
9. Itoh, C

• Fumiya Nishiguchi, P (Seibu)

Backups Used

• Akiyama, DH
• Kokubo, DH
• Yoshinaga, PH
• Taguchi, CF
• Takagi, 1B
• Johjima, C
• Kip Gross, P (Nippon Ham)
• Nobuyuki Hoshino, P (Orix)
• Kiyoshi Toyoda, P (Seibu)
• Takahito Nomura, P (Orix)
• Takashi Ishii, P (Seibu)
• Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi, P (Nippon Ham)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Atsunori Inaba, RF (Yakult)
2. Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, 2B (Chunichi Dragons)
3. Furuya, C
4. H.Matsui, CF
5. Rose, DH
6. Hosey, 3B
7. Kiyohara, 1B
8. Kanemoto, LF
9. Kuji, SS

• Masahiro Yamamoto, P (Chunichi)

Backups Used

• Hiyama, RF
• Toshio Haru, 3B (Yokohama)
• Komada, PH
• Kenjiro Nomura, SS (Hiroshima)
• Suzuki, LF
• Ishii, SS
• Tanishige, C
• Shinjo, CF
• Hiratsuka, PH
• Masato Yoshii, P (Yakult)
• Masumi Kuwata, P (Yomiuri)
• Yasuyuki Yamauchi, P (Hiroshima)
• Kazuhiro Sasaki, P (Yokohama)
• Dong-yol Sun, P (Chunichi)

Umpires

• Satoru Kakizono (Home), Suginaga (1B), Sakaemura (2B), Toshiyuki Tanaka (3B)

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia