MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 13, 1999

Larry Walker

LARRY WALKER: That's Pedro Martinez, he's right now probably the top pitcher in the game and will be for a while. He's dominating with all the pitches, and he throws them all for strikes. I was nervous, never mind stepping in against him.

LARRY WALKER: Pedro and I were teammates in Montreal. You can almost get to know him by watching him on TV. You can notice he's a funny, loveable guy, and you can't help but like him.

LARRY WALKER: Well, I only saw a couple of pitches, so it didn't take long for him to get rid of me. He was putting everybody away with the fastball. He was throwing the ball very hard, and throwing it very well.

LARRY WALKER: I was fortunate to walk in here and heard Pedro talk about the airplanes going over, I almost fell to the ground, they scared the daylights out of me. This is Fenway Park, and this is the only chance I'll play here. I hope the ground crew doesn't get too mad, because I tore this piece of grass out of rightfield. I'm taking it home, and I'm going to have it forever. And say I played here and I'll have it forever.

LARRY WALKER: It was rather emotional. I'm a rather emotional guy, and when I got up there tears were coming out of Ted's eyes, I kind of turned away, it almost brought tears to my eyes. The greatest player in the world, is surrounded by more great players. It was outstanding to see it. I know Ted was extremely touched by it. It was an honor to stand out there on the field with him and all the greats standing around him, right there makes me nervous. That's more of why I was nervous earlier, just the people that were in the stadium today.

LARRY WALKER: I was just looking to see it, I didn't see the ball when it went by me. I don't know, he threw a change-up first pitch, maybe I was waiting for that. I don't think I felt my fingers or my arms when I was up there hitting first. When I was warming up before the game, I wasn't aware where it was going, I had no feeling, I was in awe, looking at the sign that said Fenway Park, and the big wall in leftfield. I struck out at Fenway Park, and I'm pretty proud of it.

LARRY WALKER: You know, I don't know. I've heard talk of it lately, and I want to win a championship, so I go out there like everybody else, try to play the game hard, and try to do whatever I can to let the team win. All the talk is appreciated, but I don't put myself up at that level, I'm quite humble and I'll stay that way. Curt doesn't think that much of me, anyway.

CURT SCHILLING: So much so he had to sign the jersey himself.

LARRY WALKER: But I got my grass.

End of FastScripts….