Oakland A’s Memorable All-Star Game Moments, From Reggie to Rooker

A team in the Oakland A’s’ precarious position should expect just one All-Star selection, as the Chicago White Sox are the only American League team to fare worse this season and the A’s are coming off consecutive 100-plus-loss seasons. But Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy made sure the A’s would double that total — inviting A’s manager Mark Kotsay to join him and his coaching staff for Tuesday’s midsummer classic in Arlington, Texas.

Mason Miller was named to the AL All-Star roster on July 7, becoming the Oakland A’s final All-Star.

“I’m obviously very excited to have this experience,” Miller said.

“That’s a pretty cool thing to have, just personally, but also just to be in the list of really talented individuals that have worked for that organization before me. It’s an honor.”

Kotsay, who played for the San Diego Padres from 2001 to 2003 under Bochy as his manager and never made the All-Star team as a player, echoed Miller’s sentiments.

“I didn’t think about it that this would be the last time that Oakland Athletics would be represented at the All-Star Game, but I think I can speak for Mason and myself: We feel very honored to have the opportunity to represent this organization at the All-Star Game,” he said.

As Miller noted, the A’s have a rich history of memorable All-Star moments, and looking back on them helps us remember what the franchise accomplished during its time in Oakland. So let’s think back to some of the fun times when A’s owner John Fisher wasn’t at the top of the list (okay, this list might include one such memory).

1971: Reggie Jackson hits a home run off a transformer at Tiger Stadium

Jackson played in 12 All-Star Games and his stats were strong, with a .269 batting average and .355 on-base percentage, essentially matching his career highs. But the man who hit 563 home runs only hit one in an All-Star Game.

He made it matter.

Facing Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Dock Ellis, who would briefly join the A’s in 1977 between stints with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers that season, Jackson hit a two-run home run in the third inning that is widely considered the most memorable in MLB All-Star Game history.

“Here’s a long drive,” said NBC play-by-play announcer Curt Gowdy, his voice rising as the ball continued to fly. “That one’s going way up. It’s … off the roof. That hit the transformer up there.”

Jackson’s Optimus Prime shot was estimated to have traveled 530 feet or so, though Statcast didn’t come out until 44 years later, so there’s no way to know for sure. Jackson’s bat-toss while admiring his shot was also quite demonstrative, as he cut the National League lead to 3-2 in a game the AL would eventually win 6-4. The 1971 A’s went on to win 101 games before being swept in the ALCS by the Baltimore Orioles. They went on to win the World Series in each of the next three seasons, completing the only three-peat by a team other than the New York Yankees.

1982: Rickey Does Rickey Things

Only two position players have gone the entire game for the AL, and Rickey Henderson certainly deserved to be on that short list with Robin Yount. He started (of course) and went 3-for-4 with a stolen base. He would set a modern record that season with 130 steals.

1987: Oakland hosts the All-Star Game

The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum once hosted the All-Star Game, as did Shibe Park (home of the Philadelphia Athletics) in 1943 and Municipal Stadium (home of the Kansas City A’s) in 1960. To say the Coliseum was a different place then would be like comparing baseball stadium concessions and ticket prices from 1987 to today. The Coliseum always had too much foul territory due to its multi-sport responsibilities, but it was a far more attractive venue, with a sweeping view of the East Bay Hills atop a patch of ice plant that sat above the outfield bleachers.

The A’s weren’t great in 1987, eventually finishing 81-81, but signs of the team’s impending rise were on display in that game. Henderson wouldn’t return to the A’s until the Yankees traded him to Oakland a little over two years later. But he was the leadoff hitter for the American League, and Mark McGwire — a rookie who had 33 homers before the All-Star break and eventually had 49 — replaced him in the sixth inning.

The game remained scoreless until the 13th inning, when A’s closer Jay Howell gave up a two-run triple to Tim Raines in his second inning.

1988: Terry Steinbach named MVP of the All-Star Game

Steinbach was one of five A’s on the American League roster in 1988, but the Oakland catcher’s pre-game statistics (.217 average, .660 OPS) made him “the subject of national ridicule” when A’s fans filled the ballots to make him the AL’s starting catcher.

The A’s fans looked good when Steinback led off the third inning with a home run from Dwight Gooden that appeared to bounce off the glove of a leaping Daryl Strawberry.

“Terry Steinbach, the All-Star that a lot of people said shouldn’t have been here, hits a home run,” said a giggling Al Michaels. “Doesn’t that make sense?”

He hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to become the first and only A’s All-Star Game MVP. He then batted .302 the rest of the season and was named an All-Star starter in 1989 — a far less controversial selection than when he made the team the year before.

2013-14: Yoenis Céspedes wins consecutive Home Run Derbies

Cespedes’ best season was arguably his rookie campaign in 2012, when he batted .292 with 4.0 bWAR and finished 10th in AL MVP voting. He didn’t make his first All-Star team until 2014, but in 2013 he stunned the crowd at Citi Field with his first Home Run Derby victory, scoring a 455-foot home run to center in the final game against Bryce Harper.

Céspedes struggled with shoulder inflammation in the second half of the 2013 season and Billy Beane, then the A’s GM, has made it clear before the 2014 season that he was not happy with Céspedes performing in the Derby again. Céspedes defended his title anyway, hitting 30 home runs (more than twice as many as anyone else).

17 days later, Beane traded Céspedes to the Boston Red Sox.

2014: A’s pile up AL All-Star selection

Josh Donaldson was Oakland’s lone American League starter in the 2014 All-Star Game, but the A’s sent six players to Target Field (Céspedes, Derek Norris, Brandon Moss, Scott Kazmir and Sean Doolittle). Technically, seven A’s players were named All-Stars in 2014 if you count Jeff Samardzija, whom the A’s acquired from the Chicago Cubs 10 days before the All-Star Game. Samardzija, who was named a National League All-Star that year, did not play in the game, which the AL won 5-3.

Joe Buck had fun introducing Samardzija, who wore a cap that said “ALL-STAR GAME” that looked like something your dad would wear while mowing the lawn.

In order not to disappoint the A’s fans who have suffered far too much pain over the years, we will not discuss the remainder of the 2014 season.

2023: Brent Rooker doubles down on maxim as “Sell the team” chants fill the park

A month after A’s fans staged a “reverse boycott” of the Coliseum, fans at T-Mobile Park made their voices heard on multiple occasions. Just as many A’s fans did during the boycott game and throughout the season, fans in Seattle stood still during the first at-bat of the fifth inning before chanting, “Sell the team!”

But it didn’t stop there. When Rooker came on in the sixth inning, we heard fans scream that familiar line as Rooker hit an 0-1 fastball from Edwin Díaz to right-center for a ground-rule double.

You could argue that Rooker deserved to play in his second straight All-Star Game this season — his numbers are better across the board than what he put up in 2023, or his numbers through last season’s All-Star break. As with Miller, the conversation over the next few weeks will revolve around whether Rooker will find himself in a different uniform by the end of July.

The AthleticsJen McCaffrey contributed to this article.

(Top photo of Mike Gallego congratulating Yoenis Céspedes after Céspedes won the 2014 Home Run Derby: Rob Carr/Getty Images)