Tonight marks the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star game, a contest which airs live from Citi Field (home of the New York Mets) tonight on Fox. This actually marks the first time Citi Field will host the game, and the first time for the Mets franchise since the 1960’s.
All that said, seeing as how the city of Louisville is so closely aligned with the National Past time, I just had to see if there were any local athletes that were in this year’s game; and what I found was connections on both the American league and National League rosters.
First for the American league comes pitcher Steve Delabar, currently on the Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff Delabar is a native of Fort Knox, where he first began to demonstrate his baseball hurling prowess.
Next, another Blue Jay, Edwin Encarnacion had his time in the Derby City, when he suited up for the Louisville Bats during the 2007 season, since then the first basemen has steadily been gaining a reputation in baseball.
Meanwhile the National League is starting Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who famously was a slugger for the Bats prior to reaching the majors. The Toronto native has steadily been one of the top offensive powers in major league baseball since his debut.
In addition, power pitcher Aroldis Chapman stopped off with the Bats prior to making a name for himself with the Reds; Chapman is currently widely known as one of the fastest pitchers currently in major league baseball.
Rounding out the national league with local ties is another pitcher, Travis Wood; the Arkansas native who is currently on the roster for the Chicago Cubs, was a star with the Bats before making his way to the windy city.
These are just a couple guys to look for during the always incredibly competitive all-star game, but before you make too many jokes about the “fierceness” of competition during the all-star game remember that it does decide home field advantage for the World Series so, you know, I guess that’s something.
Image courtesy of h4 entertainment
