In 1991, the Blue Jays hosted the All-Star game.
SkyDome opened in June 1989, so by 1991, it still had that new stadium smell. It was the second All-Star game played outside of the US, and it was the first time MLB had the FanFest in conjunction with the game. Ferguson Jenkins threw the first pitch. 52,383 was the attendance. Were any of you at the game?
We had 3 Jays named to the team. Roberto Alomar was voted in; Jimmy Key and Joe Carter were added by manager Tony La Russa. The AL won 4-2.
Jimmy Key: At the break, Key was 10-4, with a 2.23 ERA. His second half wasn’t as good; he finished 16-12 with a 3.05 ERA.
Came into the game in the 3rd inning, the AL’s second pitcher. He got Tony Gwynn to line out to first. Ryne Sandberg hit a double. Will Clark ground out to first. Key struck out Bobby Bonilla to end the inning. The AL scored three runs in the bottom of the inning and Key got he win. He became the second Jay pitcher to get credit for an All-Star win, following Dave Stieb, who got the win in 1983. The only other Jay pitcher to get a win was B.J. Ryan in 2006.
Roberto Alomar: He was hitting .283/.353/.445 with 6 homers, 40 RBI and 28 steals at the break. He finished the season at .295/.354/.436, 69 RBI, 53 steals and 88 runs.
Roberto played the whole game, batting 9th, one spot behind his brother, in the order. He didn’t have a great day at the plate, going 0 for 4. A fly out in the 3rd and a line out in the 4th, both off Expo Dennis Martinez. A flyout in the 6th against Pete Harnish from the Astros. And he made the AL’s last out in the top of the 9th against Mike Morgan of the Dodgers.
Joe Carter: He was hitting .302/.362/.564 with 19 homers and 59 RBI at the break. He slowed a bit in the 2nd half of the year, finishing .273/.330/.503 with 108 RBI.
Joe replaced Ricky Henderson at the top of the 4th and played the rest of the game in LF. He went 1 for 1 with a walk. He led off the 5th with a walk against Frank Viola of the Mets. And singled to lead off the 7th against Frank Viola of the Mets. He scored on Harold Baines’ sac fly, making it 4-2 for the AL.