Jimmy Rollins made three All-Star Games in his MLB career, including an eventful one during his rookie season in 2001.
Rollins was 22 years old at the time and had only spent a few months in the major leagues. He was a bit star-struck, but took it all in and had more than a few memorable moments.
You may remember the 2001 All-Star Game as Cal Ripken Jr.’s final one, the one in which Alex Rodriguez switched positions with him to start the game. And then Ripken went on to hit a home run in his first at bat.
Then there was a funnier memory, at least in retrospect, that Rollins shared with Ron Darling on this week’s special All-Star edition of Audacy’s Unwritten: Behind Baseball's Secret Rules podcast.
“I’m sitting there and I’m talking to Curt Schilling, and Vlad is hitting. Tommy (Lasorda) is getting a little bit up there in age at the time – well Tommy was always old to me. Tommy lived forever it seems like,” Rollins said (17:50 in player above).
Rollins knew Schilling from his time with the Phillies organization and the pitcher took him under his wing a bit during the All-Star festivities.
The young shortstop had played against Vladimir Guerrero, who was with the Montreal Expos until 2003, and knew how quickly the ball came off his bat.
“I’m looking at Curt and I’m like ‘Curt, I think Tommy’s a little too close … If Vlad turns on one, he’s not gonna be able to get out the way,’ and he’s like ‘good point,’ so he starts yelling at Tommy like ‘back up! Back up!’”
Of course, given Lasorda’s stubborn nature, he stood with his feet firmly planted in the third base coach’s box.
“A couple pitches later, and thank God it was not a ball, Vlad gets jammed and the barrel flies 110 feet towards Tommy," Rollins continued. "You just see him backing up and he has no idea which direction to go.”
The rest is history.
“And I looked at Curt, ‘I told you! I told you he was too close!,’ and we all start dying laughing.”
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