Cal Ripken reveals he wasn't thrilled with Alex Rodriguez's All-Star gesture in 2001
Baseball's All-Star Game returned to Seattle this year for the first time since 2001, when Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. played in his final Midsummer Classic and won MVP honors.
Ripken was back on the field Tuesday night, reuniting with former All-Star teammate Alex Rodriguez on the Fox TV broadcast. However, Ripken offered an interesting twist when Rodriguez brought up their iconic All-Star moment 22 years ago.
The background: The two were named as starters for the American League -- Ripken at age 40 at third base and Rodriguez, just 25, at shortstop. In deference to Ripken's storied career, which began at short, A-Rod insisted the two switch places so Ripken could start the game at his original position.
It was widely viewed as a respectful gesture, but Ripken admitted Tuesday he was a little upset at the time.
"I was kinda (expletive) at you, to be honest with you," Ripken said, noting that he hadn't played shortstop in a long time and he was wearing a (much larger) third baseman's glove.
The group of announcers, which included Fox's Kevin Burkhardt and Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and David Ortiz got a big chuckle out of Ripken's remarks. But television viewers got a pretty good idea that Ripken might still have some lingering resentment toward Rodriguez, in addition to relief that he didn't embarrass himself defensively in the game.
He certainly didn't embarrass himself offensively in 2001, hitting a memorable homer off the Dodgers' Chan Ho Park and earning MVP honors in the AL's 4-1 win.