They don’t count, but it’s fun!
It’s the All-Star break so let’s do a fun excursion through the “ledger” home runs hit by game participants. Our process for each of the sixty-three ASG home runs hit in the Inter-league Era (1997 to present) is to take the team that the pitcher giving up the home run was representing and then see if that particular team would have been a ledger in the regular season. Do these ledgers count? Heck no!
Here’s an example from last year’s game. Yandy Díaz hit a home run off Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller. Back on May 4, Yandy had hit his Pittsburgh ledger, so he would not appear on our list.
These are the 21 players who have hit an ASG ledger, then gone on to hit a home run against that franchise later in their career.
1997
Javy López off José Rosado (KCR)
1998
Roberto Alomar off Trevor Hoffman (SDP)
2000
Chipper Jones off James Baldwin (CHW)
2001
Derek Jeter off Jon Lieber (CHC)
2002
Alfonso Soriano off Éric Gagné (LAD)
2003
Garret Anderson off Woody Williams (STL)
Jason Giambi off Billy Wagner (HOU)
Hank Blalock off Éric Gagné (LAD)
2006
David Wright off Kenny Rogers (DET)
2007
Carl Crawford off Francisco Cordero (MIL)
Víctor Martínez off Billy Wagner (NYM)
2008
Matt Holliday off Ervin Santana (LAA)
2016
Kris Bryant off Chris Sale (CHW)
Eric Hosmer off Johnny Cueto (SFG)
2018
Aaron Judge off Max Scherzer (WSN)
Willson Contreras off Blake Snell (TBR)
Trevor Story off Charlie Morton (HOU)
Christian Yelich off Charlie Morton (HOU)
Alex Bregman off Ross Stripling (LAD)
George Springer off Ross Stripling (LAD)
2022
Byron Buxton off Tony Gonsolin (LAD)
There are six more players to hit an ASG ledger who did not go on to hit a home run against that franchise. The first two players are recent who likely will check these teams off eventually.
2021
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off Corbin Burnes (MIL)
2023
Elias Díaz off Félix Bautista (BAL)
And the last four are a gallery of legendary players from early in the era who couldn’t manage to match up against all their Inter-league Era foes.
1997
Edgar Martínez off Greg Maddux (ATL)
1998
Barry Bonds off Bartolo Colón (CLE)
2001
Cal Ripken Jr. off Chan Ho Park (LAD)
2005
Miguel Tejada off John Smoltz (ATL)
So, what possibilities exists for the 2024 edition of the All-Star Game? There are a handful of match-ups between starters: Christian Yelich and Alec Bohm against Corbin Burnes of the Orioles and Steven Kwan and Vladimir Guerrero Jr against Paul Skenes of the Pirates.
And here are all the combinations that could add to the lists above.
National League Starters
William Contreras: (LAA) Tyler Anderson, (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (CHW) Garrett Crochet, (NYY) Clay Holmes, (KCR) Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans
Bryce Harper
Ketel Marte: (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (KCR) Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, (OAK) Mason Miller
Alec Bohm: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (NYY) Clay Holmes, (SEA) Andrés Muñoz
Trea Turner: (SEA) Andrés Muñoz
Jurickson Profar: (BOS) Tanner Houck
Fernando Tatis Jr.: (LAA) Tyler Anderson, (CHW) Garrett Crochet
Christian Yelich: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (BOS) Tanner Houck
Shohei Ohtani
National League Reserves
Will Smith: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (NYY) Clay Holmes, (BOS) Tanner Houck, (SEA) Andrés Muñoz
Pete Alonso: (CHW) Garrett Crochet
Freddie Freeman
Luis Arraez: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (KCR) Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, (OAK) Mason Miller
Ryan McMahon: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (BOS) Tanner Houck, (SEA) Andrés Muñoz
CJ Abrams: (LAA) Tyler Anderson, (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (CHW) Garrett Crochet, (BOS) Tanner Houck, (KCR) Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, (OAK) Mason Miller
Mookie Betts
Elly De La Cruz: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (KCR) Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, (OAK) Mason Miller
Teoscar Hernández
Jackson Merrill: (LAA) Tyler Anderson, (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (CHW) Garrett Crochet, (NYY) Clay Holmes, (KCR) Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, (SEA) Andrés Muñoz
Heliot Ramos: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (CLE) Emmanuel Clase, (CHW) Garrett Crochet, (BOS) Tanner Houck, (KCR) Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, (OAK) Mason Miller, (SEA) Andrés Muñoz
Bryan Reynolds: (BAL) Corbin Burnes, (OAK) Mason Miller
Marcell Ozuna
American League Starters
Adley Rutschman: (ATL) Max Fried, (MIA) Tanner Scott, (SDP) Robert Suárez, (SFG) Logan Webb
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: (CIN) Hunter Greene, (PIT) Paul Skenes
José Ramírez: (ATL) Max Fried, (PHI) Jeff Hoffman, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm, Zack Wheeler, (PIT) Paul Skenes
Gunnar Henderson: (ATL) Max Fried, (CIN) Hunter Greene, (CHC) Shōta Imanaga, (SDP) Robert Suárez
Aaron Judge
Steven Kwan: (CIN) Hunter Greene, (WSN) Kyle Finnegan, (CHC) Shōta Imanaga, (PIT) Paul Skenes, (SDP) Robert Suárez
Juan Soto
Yordan Alvarez: (CIN) Hunter Greene, (PHI) Jeff Hoffman, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm, Zack Wheeler, (CHC) Shōta Imanaga, (MIA) Tanner Scott, (PIT) Paul Skenes
American League Reserves
Salvador Perez: (ATL) Max Fried, (PHI) Jeff Hoffman, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm, Zack Wheeler
Josh Naylor: (ATL) Max Fried, (WSN) Kyle Finnegan, (SDP) Robert Suárez
Willi Castro: (ATL) Max Fried, (PHI) Jeff Hoffman, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm, Zack Wheeler, (CHC) Shōta Imanaga, (MIA) Tanner Scott, (PIT) Paul Skenes, (SDP) Robert Suárez, (SFG) Logan Webb
Marcus Semien: (SDP) Robert Suárez
Isaac Paredes: (CIN) Hunter Greene, (CHC) Shōta Imanaga
Jordan Westburg: (ATL) Max Fried, (WSN) Kyle Finnegan, (MIA) Tanner Scott, (PIT) Paul Skenes, (SDP) Robert Suárez, (SFG) Logan Webb
Corey Seager:
Bobby Witt Jr.: (ATL) Max Fried, (MIA) Tanner Scott, (SDP) Robert Suárez
Jarren Duran: (WSN) Kyle Finnegan, (PHI) Jeff Hoffman, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm, Zack Wheeler, (PIT) Paul Skenes, (SFG) Logan Webb
Riley Greene: (ATL) Max Fried, (PHI) Jeff Hoffman, Cristopher Sánchez, Matt Strahm, Zack Wheeler, (CHC) Shōta Imanaga, (SFG) Logan Webb
Anthony Santander: (PIT) Paul Skenes, (SDP) Robert Suárez, (SFG) Logan Webb
David Fry: (ATL) Max Fried, (CIN) Hunter Greene, (CHC) Shōta Imanaga, (MIA) Tanner Scott, (PIT) Paul Skenes, (SFG) Logan Webb
