MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 11, 1999

Lou Broch

Alfonso Soriano

LOU BROCH: I actually believe that the experience today certainly will enhance their chances to get to the Big Leagues. They now know that you can play before big crowds and at the same time they have to deal with and put in their repertoire their ability to deal with the media. I thought that was intriguing.

ALFONSO SORIANO: You can't imagine what it means to me in terms of my career, and especially to my mother. Everything I do in baseball is dedicated to my mother back in the Dominican Republic.

ALFONSO SORIANO: I think now she must be the happiest woman in the world, because thanks to God I had everything worked out great in the game.

ALFONSO SORIANO: I don't know. I think probably, yeah.

ALFONSO SORIANO: I feel very happy about it.

ALFONSO SORIANO: Just as everybody knows, playing with the Yankees, since Derek Jeter is there, it may be possible they move me to second base.

ALFONSO SORIANO: I was thinking about my mother, and how happy she must be back there in the Dominican Republic.

ALFONSO SORIANO: I was a little embarrassed but I think that Nick and a lot of other teammates felt good that he played well today.

ALFONSO SORIANO: First one was a letter-high fastball, the second one was a change-up, a little bit on the outside corner.

LOU BROCH: I thought he was their secret weapon today. He hit Mulder pitching the first home run, good sinker ball pitcher, and I'm sure they faced each other before, but he never saw a sinker ball up around the chest, and so he punished him for getting the sinker ball up. And I thought Mulder was a bit strong. Generally I'm told he had a great sinker ball, and today, because of his excitement, I thought his pitching was quite high, so he paid the price for being excited.

LOU BROCH: How do I what?

LOU BROCH: Style, as far as I'm concerned is the type of a walk through baseball, walk through life. You stand to run, hit and catch and throw the ball, that becomes the common denominator, how they do it becomes their style or walk. Certainly one of the biggest contributor to creating your own so-called walk in the game which perhaps you've seen is a thing called television, and everybody wanting to be your in your face, so you had to create your own type walk. I thought today none of the players really showed anything that could be considered a strange walk in the game. Our guys were rooting and they were excited. They played a brand of baseball that you perhaps see in days gone by, as well as Big League ball, everything was executed well.

ALFONSO SORIANO: Every time I walk out onto the field I feel that I can be the best one in the game and that I can be a superstar.

LOU BROCH: I think the fact is that you saw a change of pace than what they were accustomed to, simply because in the Minor Leagues I don't think you get large crowds, and only in certain stadiums. But if you play before two or three thousand people at night there are one or two members of the press that follow you around. You wake up the next day and there are 400,000 members of the media and you have the huge crowd and the history of Fenway Park, and all of the legends who are associated with this particular event. I think it's overwhelming. And I think their safe territory is on the field. Once they reach the field, they're relaxed.

LOU BROCH: I had to look at it from a fan's point of view, Fanfest, Fenway Park was dressed up, it was a highlight of baseball and was one of those shining moments in the game. And Fenway Park somehow you look and see the history and the ghosts of the past still exist on the field. I'm sure if he could tell you that, he would tell you that he was standing at the same plate that Ted Williams stood at or Babe Ruth, and that's the excitement. And so those are the emotions that you hold in, but at the same time you try not to express them in the outward way, but they are there.

ALFONSO SORIANO: I hope I can come here. I'd like to play with the Yankees, wherever.

LOU BROCH: There were quite a few, particularly how they were comfortable at the plate. I saw some good swings, you had some Minor League ball players who knew what they were doing, how to handle a bat, very few were fooled by the pitch. The last pitcher they had, other than Alfonso, who I called him the secret weapon they had today, we only had stats to look at and sometimes you don't believe the statistics. The person shows up and he proves those statistics to be true. But for the most part I think the last relief pitcher was very impressive. I thought he had what we call "high heat", and we had a couple of kids who really threw the ball well, here. I thought pitching would dominate the game, it did, for the rest of the players. But for the most part they should be proud of themselves the way they performed.

End of FastScripts….