1999 NPB All-Star Game

The 1999 NPB All-Star Games featured three contests, and the Central League swept the Pacific League.

Game 1

Game 1 was held on July 24 at Seibu Dome in front of 28,217 fans. Two talented rookies, Koji Uehara and Daisuke Matsuzaka dueled. Uehara gave up a solo shot to Ichiro Suzuki but still won the game since Matsuzaka allowed two unearned runs due to shortstop Kazuo Matsui's error. The PL allowed four unearned runs in the 7th inning after Michihiro Ogasawara's crucial missed catch on a grounder, so the CL won the game. Hideki Matsui blasted a game-winning 2-run shot off Takayuki Shinohara in the 6th inning to win the MVP, and the PL's Susumu Otomo and Tuffy Rhodes both recorded a solo shot.

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

Players used

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Takuro Ishii, SS (Yokohama BayStars)
2. Takanori Suzuki, DH (Yokohama)
3. Yoshinobu Takahashi, RF (Yomiuri Giants)
4. Hideki Matsui, CF (Yomiuri))
5. Bobby Rose, 2B (Yokohama)
6. Roberto Petagine, 1B (Yakult Swallows)
7. Koichi Sekikawa, LF (Chunichi Dragons)
8. Atsuya Furuta, C (Yakult)
9. Tomohiro Nioka, 3B (Yomiuri)

• Koji Uehara, P (Yomiuri)

Backups Used

• Motonobu Tanishige, C (Yokohama)
• Daisuke Motoki, 2B (Yomiuri)
• Akira Eto, PH (Hiroshima Carp)
• Tsuyoshi Shinjo, LF (Hanshin Tigers)
• Yutaka Wada, 2B (Hanshin)
• Kosuke Fukudome, 3B (Chunichi)
• Takeo Kawamura, P (Yokohama)
• Hiromi Makihara, P (Yomiuri)
• Kazuhiro Sasaki, P (Yokohama)

Manager

• Hiroshi Gondo

Coaches

• Senichi Hoshino
• Shigeo Nagashima

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. Kazuo Matsui, SS (Seibu Lions)
2. Makoto Kosaka, 2B (Chiba Lotte Marines)
3. Ichiro Suzuki, CF (Orix BlueWave)
4. Tuffy Rhodes, RF (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
5. Koichiro Yoshinaga, DH (Daiei Hawks)
6. Nobuhiko Matsunaka, LF (Daiei)
7. Atsushi Kataoka, 3B (Nippon Ham Fighters)
8. Taisei Takagi, 1B (Seibu)
9. Satoshi Nakajima, C (Seibu)

• Daisuke Matsuzaka, P (Seibu)

Backups Used

• Kenji Johjima, C (Daiei)
• Koji Akiyama, DH (Daiei)
• Susumu Otomo, CF (Seibu)
• Hiroyuki Takagi, 2B (Seibu)
• Michihiro Ogasawara, 1B (Nippon Ham)
• Yukio Tanaka, 3B (Nippon Ham)
• Norihiro Nakamura, PH (Kintetsu)
• Kimiyasu Kudo, P (Daiei)
• Takayuki Shinohara, P (Daiei)
• Hidetaka Kawagoe, P (Orix)
• Brian Warren, P (Seibu)

Manager

• Osamu Higashio

Coaches

• Toshiharu Ueda
• Akira Ogi

Umpires

• Hiroshi Tani (Home), Junichi Sato (1B), Takeji Kobayashi (2B), Tatsuya Yamamura (3B), Masaharu Kasahara (LF), Osamu Tachibana (RF)

Game 2

Game 2 took place at the Koshien Stadium July 25 with an attendance of 43,639. The PL's starter, Tomohiro Kuroki, was destroyed as he set the All-Star record for allowing 7 runs as a starter. Bobby Rose was 3-for-3 with a homer against Fumiya Nishiguchi to win the MVP, and he also set the All-Star record by collecting 6 RBI in a game. The PL's only highlight was Norihiro Nakamura, who collected 3 hits.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pacific	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	5	10	0
Central	2	5	0	0	1	1	0	0	-	9	13	1

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. K.Matsui, SS
2. Ogasawara, 1B
3. Ichiro, RF
4. Rhodes, LF
5. Nakamura, 3B
6. Matsunaka, DH
7. Johjima, C
8. Otomo, CF
9. Kosaka, 2B

• Tomohiro Kuroki, P (Chiba Lotte)

Backups Used

• Akiyama, LF
• Kataoka, PH
• Tanaka, SS
• Tetsuya Matoyama, C (Kintetsu)
• Yoshinaga, PH
• T.Takagi, 1B
• H.Takagi, 2B
• Hideo Koike, P (Kintetsu)
• Fumiya Nishiguchi, P (Seibu)
• Masahiko Kaneda, P (Orix)

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Shinjo, LF
2. Sekikawa, DH
3. Takahashi, RF
4. H.Matsui, CF
5. Rose, 2B
6. Petagine, 1B
7. Fukudome, SS
8. Wada, 3B
9. Akihiro Yano, C (Hanshin)

• Keiichi Yabu, P (Hanshin)

Backups Used

• Furuya, DH
• Motoki, 2B
• Nioka, SS
• Koichi Ogata, CF (Hiroshima)
• Shinji Sasaoka, P (Hiroshima)
• Kazuhiro Takeda, P (Chunichi)
• Eiji Ochiai, P (Chunichi)

Umpires

• Yamamura (Home), Kobayashi (1B), Tachibana (2B), Kasahara (3B), Sato (LF), Tani (RF)

Game 3

Game 3 took place at the Kurashiki Sports Park July 27 with an attendance of 27,202. Unlike the other games this year, this game was a pitchers' contest. The PL's Takashi Ishii struck out four in his three innings pitched, while Shigeki Noguchi and Takashi Saito of the CL both collected 3 strikeouts in two shutout innings. Shinjo hit a clutch game-winning two-run homer off Tsutomu Iwamoto in the 6th inning and won MVP. Ichiro extended his All-Star hitting streak to 8 games, but the PL still was swept in a three-game series for the first time since 1963.

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

Players used

Pacific League Starting Lineup

1. K.Matsui, SS
2. Kosaka, 2B
3. Ichiro, CF
4. Rhodes, LF
5. Nakamura, 3B
6. Johjima, DH
7. Tanaka, 1B
8. Akiyama, RF
9. Matoyama, C

• Takashi Ishii, P (Seibu)

Backups Used

• Otomo, CF
• Kataoka, PH
• Nakajima, C
• Yoshinaga, PH
• T.Takagi, 1B
• H.Takagi, 3B
• Satoru Komiyama, P (Chiba Lotte)
• Tsutomu Iwamoto, P (Nippon Ham)
• Rodney Pedraza, P (Daiei)
• Warren, P

Central League Starting Lineup

1. Shinjo, 3B
2. Ishii, 2B
3. Suzuki, LF
4. Rose, DH
5. Petagine, 1B
6. Ogata, CF
7. Sekikawa, 2B
8. Tanishige, C
9. Fukudome, SS

• Shigeki Noguchi, P (Chunichi)

Backups Used

• Furuya,C
• Motoki, 2B
• Nioka, SS
• H.Matsui, 3B
• Takahashi, RF
• Wada, 2B
• Kazuhisa Ishii, P (Yakult)
• Takashi Saito, P (Yokohama)
• Naoya Shimada, P (Yokohama)
• Shingo Takatsu, P (Yakult)

Umpires

• Kasahara (Home), Tachibana (1B), Tani(2B), Sato(3B), Kobayashi(LF), Yamamura(RF)

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia