1998 NPB All-Star Game

The 1998 NPB All-Star Games featured two contests, and the Central League won one game while the other one was tied.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 22 at Nagoya Dome in front of 34,736 fans. CL starter Kenshin Kawakami pitched three shutout innings at his home field, and became the first rookie pitcher to win an All-Star Game MVP. Hideki Matsui blasted a solo shot off Hiroshi Takamura in the first inning, and Yoshinobu Takahashi was 2-for-4, with a RBI single in the 2nd inning. The PL only had 5 hits, and three of them were from Ken Suzuki.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0
Central	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	-	5	11	2

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Kazuo Matsui, SS (Seibu Lions)
2. Ichiro Suzuki, CF (Orix BlueWave)
3. Atsushi Kataoka, 3B (Nippon Ham Fighters)
4. Julio Franco, 2B (Chiba Lotte Marines)
5. Ken Suzuki, DH (Seibu)
6. Koji Akiyama, RF (Daiei Hawks)
7. Tuffy Rhodes, LF (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
8. Kenji Johjima, C (Daiei)
9. Taisei Takagi, 1B (Seibu)

• Hiroshi Takamura, P (Kintetsu)

Backups Used

• Takashi Muto, 2B (Kintetsu)
• Tsutomu Itoh, PH (Seibu)
• Shikato Yanagita, PH (Daiei)
• Naoyuki Ohmura, LF (Kintetsu)
• Mitsuchika Hirai, PH (Chiba Lotte)
• Toshihiro Noguchi, C (Nippon Ham)
• Edwin Hurtado, P (Orix)
• Satoru Kanemura, P (Nippon Ham)
• Kazuhiro Takeda, P (Daiei)
• Yui Tomori, P (Seibu)

Manager

• Osamu Higashio

Coaches

• Kyosuke Sasaki
• Akira Ogi

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Yoshinobu Takahashi, RF (Yomiuri Giants)
2. Kenjiro Nomura, SS (Hiroshima Carp)
3. Hideki Matsui, CF (Yomiuri)
4. Kazuhiro Kiyohara, DH (Yomiuri)
5. Takanori Suzuki, LF (Yokohama BayStars)
6. Akira Eto, 3B (Hiroshima)
7. Norihiro Komada, 1B (Yokohama)
8. Atsuya Furuta, C (Yakult Swallows)
9. Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, 2B (Chunichi Dragons)

• Kenshin Kawakami, P (Chunichi)

Backups Used

• Motonobu Tanishige, C (Yokohama)
• Daisuke Motoki, PH (Yomiuri)
• Takayuki Shimizu, PR (Yomiuri)
• Makoto Imaoka, SS (Hanshin Tigers)
• Tomonori Maeda, LF (Hiroshima)
• Toshihisa Nishi, 2B (Yomiuri)
• Takeshi Nakamura, C (Chunichi)
• Nate Minchey, P (Hiroshima)
• Shigeki Noguchi, P (Chunichi)
• Kanei Kobayashi, P (Hiroshima)
• Kazuhiro Sasaki, P (Yokohama)

Manager

• Katsuya Nomura

Coaches

• Toshiyuki Mimura
• Hiroshi Gondo

Umpires

• Junichi Sato (Home), Osamu Ino (1B), Minoru Nakamura (2B), Toshiyuki Tanaka (3B)

Game 2

Game 2 took place at the Zozo Marine Stadium July 24 with an attendance of 24,994. The CL's Hideki Matsui blasted a 2-run homer against Tsutomu Iwamoto and also had a double and two walks to win the MVP, and Ohmura also crushed a solo shot off Takeo Kawamura in the 3rd inning. Takamura threw 4 strikeouts in his 3 innings pitched, and Sung-min Cho struck out all three batters he faced in the 9th inning.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Central	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	0
Pacific	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	3	10	2

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Takahashi, RF
2. Takuro Ishii, SS (Yokohama)
3. H.Matsui, CF
4. Kiyohara, 1B
5. Maeda, DH
6. Shimizu, LF
7. Takahiro Ikeyama, 3B (Yakult)
8. Tanishige, C
9. Nishi, 2B

• Takeo Kawamura, P (Yokohama)

Backups Used

• Suzuki, RF
• Imaoka, SS
• Eto, 3B
• Komada, 1B
• Tatsunami, LF
• Furuya, C
• Motoki, PH
• Nakamura, C
• Kenjiro Kawasaki, P (Yakult)
• Masaki Saito, P (Yomiuri)
• Tetsuro Kawajiri, P (Hanshin)
• Sung-min Cho, P (Yomiuri)

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. K.Matsui, SS
2. Hirai, RF
3. Kataoka, 3B
4. Ichiro, CF
5. K.Suzuki, 1B
6. Franco, 2B
7. Kiyoshi Hatsushiba, DH (Chiba Lotte)
8. Itoh, C
9. Ohmura, LF

• Satoru Komiyama, P (Chiba Lotte)

Backups Used

• Akiyama, RF
• Rhodes, PH
• Yanagita, 3B
• Noguchi, C
• Muto, 2B
• Johjima, C
• Takagi, 1B
• Tsutomu Iwamoto, P (Nippon Ham)
• Tomohiro Kuroki, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Shinji Mori, P (Seibu)
• Hiroyuki Sekine, P (Nippon Ham)
• Tatsuji Nishimura, P (Daiei)
• Akinori Otsuka, P (Kintetsu)

Umpires

• Masato Tomoyose (Home), Nakamura (1B), Ino (2B), Noriyuki Fujimoto (3B)

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia