Greatest All Star Performance Ever? Pedro's 1999 All Star Game Breakdown
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Pedro Martinez was arguably the most dominant pitcher ever at his peak.
The 1999 MLB All Star Game featured Pedro at his best facing some of the most feared hitters ever to step on a baseball diamond. Pedro struck out Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell (3 hall of famers and 2 hitters who hit over 63 home runs).
Only other pitching performance that compares is Carl Hubbell's 1934 All Star game where he struck out 5 hall of famers including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin.
Also featuring Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver and others who were at the 1999 game.
#mlb #baseball #allstargame #pitching
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He's probably the best pitcher I've ever seen and I've been watching since '77. Thanks for the video
Thanks for watching!
That I've seen in person ... probably.
@@theccpisaparasite8813nah Bob gibson
Nah Bob gibson
Yeah but he would be just an average Joe today with the evolution of the game. Players are just so much better now than when Pedro played.
Something about Pedro that earned the respect of fans and players alike was how locked in he was when he was playing. This video is a prime example. The All-Star Game has always been a reward for fans and the best players, and even when it determined home field advantage in the WS from 2003-2016, it was still just a exhibition game. Moreover, it’s the time when players get to play laid back and exclusively for fun, yet Pedro was all business. As we have witnessed since his retirement, Pedro’s sense of humor and playful nature as a commentator/pundit is on full display these days, and likely one of the reasons he’s so endeared. Just makes me appreciate him as the ultimate competitor whenever he was on the bump, because no matter when or where he threw, he gave us his absolute best. Incredible.
I was 15.. he was as advertised.. GAS and tricked them with change
I am *_SO_* grateful that I was a old enough to watch Pedro, and so, so lucky to have watched him pitch in person 4 or 5 times. Unless you experienced it you’ve never seen an entire city get as absolutely electric and buzzing the way Boston did before a Pedro start. Every Pedro game was like an all day, city-wide event. Everyone was Dominican that day and everyone had a blast. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen - and I’ve had season tickets to the Patriots since 1993 and watched 6 Super Bowls. There will never be another Pedro, and for 7-8 years there was nobody better… probably in history. And yes I understand how significant of a statement that is
Only saw on TV but yes, best I ever saw .
Remember when he blew that lead in 2002 alcs?
@ Pedro? Rivera probably blew more games than Pedro in the playoffs
The Immortal Jerry Remy said it best about Pedro and how good his change was. Pedro could come up to you at the plate and tell you that he was going to throw his change and where he was going to throw it. Then he would go back to the mound, throw his change exactly where he said he was going to throw it and you would still miss it. He had a change up the like of which we will probably never see again.
Splitters be green with envy
@@RealJeffTidwell Last I remember Pedro didn't throw a legit splitter, tho some of his pitches may have had similar action.
It was his fingers, they were so crazy how he could take off speed with them
@@brooks71982 they were very long. It allowed him to really get that ball deep into his hand when he threw his change.
@@christopherjamesboudoir i’m sure you’ve seen that video that was on Nesn back in the day where he would just be bending his fingers in different directions showing how he could grab the ball. It looked abnormal.
Prime Pedro wasn’t human. He was some sort of pitching robot. Absolutely insane!
No bob gibson was way better u guys must be new baseball fans
Yeah but he would be just an average Joe today with the evolution of the game. Players are just so much better now than when Pedro played.
@@HT-sm9dm no players were way better back then
@@Shel230 yeah players back then were way better with all the roids.
Pedro’s my favorite pitcher of all time! He was the most dominant pitcher ever from 1997-2004
What about Randy? He won 4 straight cy young awards in the same span plus a runner up that he should have won but his team lost 110 games and still won 16 games
So many great pitchers in history but Pedro is my all time favorite. As a met fan it was a blessing to have him for a handful of years
great video. imo was one of the nastiest pitchers i have ever seen. his movement and control was next to none.
Thanks! It was fun making this one.
If Ted Williams pays a pitcher a compliment, it’s the highest praise. He didn’t think anyone was any good.
I was lucky enough to be in Yankee Stadium the night Pedro struck out 17 Yankees. Perhaps the easiest way to explain the awesomeness of that outing is that ESPN chose it as a top 10 start of the ESPN era (30th year anniversary) on a list of shutouts and no-hitters, even though Pedro gave up a run in this one.
Among many highlights that night was Pedro opening by plunking Knoblauch, a bunch of Dominican fans cheering Pedro on and even positing his Ks in right field (unheard of in The Stadium), and Pedro visibly getting better as the game went one, somehow peaking over his final 3 innings.
Those last 9 outs might have been as untouchable as any pitcher has ever been. Crazy!
This All-Star Game was awesome! The pregame ceremonies with the all-time greats, followed by an absolute show by Pedro. This was one of those baseball memories I'll never forget. Pedro was my favorite pitcher in baseball - a joy to watch - and I was just giddy watching him slice through that lineup.
Absolutely
I considered this the most dominant display of pitching I had ever seen at the time. I love that this start has grown to reach legendary status in the years since. This was a jaw dropping performance.
I was a teen .. words cannot express . Pedro threw GAS AND CHANGE ..
YOU COULDN'T STOP IT
the most dominant pitcher i've ever seen. been watching since 1990
That Larry Walker stat sheet is totally nuts. Dude was hitting north of .350 with an OPS of 1.100! With that murder’s row of bats back then, you’d think pitchers would be terrible, yet that era also saw some of the greatest ever with the likes of Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera, and of course, Pedro Martinez!
@Bread And Circuses Coors Field was certainly insane in the '90s (pre-humidor, high offense era, etc.), but Walker still had a wRC+ of 168 over those three seasons (wRC+ normalizes across league and park environments). Across those three seasons, he was second in MLB in wRC+ behind only Mark McGwire. Walker's raw stats may have been inflated by Coors, but even factoring that in he was still one of the best hitters in baseball.
I remember recording this game on VHS, probably still have it somewhere
That 5:09 pitch is probably the prettiest changeup ever thrown. The fact that he was that powerful despite being 5'11" and under 200 lbs. is mind-boggling.
My favorite duels to watch were Martinez VS. Mussina. They used to elevate even more amongst each other.
Pedro also has the greatest non no hitter performance I’ve seen during my generation. Kerry Wood 20K is first. Pedro 17K 1 hitter at Yankee stadium is right there.
The line up was stacked. It seemingly got him angry the chili Davis hit a homer.
The Expos farm system and player development was crazy. Martinez, Johnson, Walker, Raines, Dawson, Carter, Guerrero, Grissom. Absolutely wild that they never had a championship
I like how you address Sosa’s allegations of Steroids but gloss over Mark’s
Everybody knows already and he didn't hit 60 3 years in a row.
4:44 that's definitely a strike nowadays. crazy how much the strike zone has changed over the years
But 8:45 wasn't a strike, so it evens out
well told story. i like how you put it all together
Thanks!
It's so hard to compare pitcher's from different eras, but it's hard to believe that anybody was better than prime Pedro Martinez.
The sequence was identical to Sosa and McGuire.
I was 8 years old when this took place, I remember the players flocking to Ted Williams. We all knew Pedro was dominant but this was next level
I do agree this should be displayed on a loop on cooperstown 24 hrs a day
"The changeup from Hell."---Paul O'Neill
❤❤❤❤ great video. Great way to finish it as well ❤❤❤❤
The reason I love not just the Sox but Baseball. The 99 ASG
In 1966 Denny McClain pitched 3 innings of no-hit/no-run ball against an NL line-up that included Mays, Clemente, Aaron, McCovey, and Joe Torre. Had 3 strikeouts and no walks, plus the gametime temperature was 103F.
50+ year Red Sox fan so I am partial of course but without a doubt in my mind he is the best I have ever seen.
Pedro is and was the man.
Keep in mind these weren't 'normal' hitters he was doing this against. Almost all these guys had something like 28 HR and 74 RBI at the freakin' halfway point in the season.
Yankee fan, 99 Pedro was the best single season from a pitcher.
That change up not only fooled Larkin but it fooled Rodriguez as well. You can see him shift his weight to his right before Pedro's change screwballs back over the plate.
That has to be the nastiest change up in the history of the game.
I was at the Ocean view pub on Martha's Vineyard when I watched this game. It was electric!
Pedro, Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddox and Randy Johnson is my pitching Mount Rushmore
Thanks for this. That changeup...
Not the Golden Age, but the Renaissance of Baseball. Definitely wanted to announce his presence with authority!
A 98 mph fastball after an 84 mph change up is wild! MLB the show type of stuff
His stuff for nowadays guys who are like 6-8 250 pounds gets overlooked but he was 5-10(on a good day!) 175 pounds
He should've won the MVP that year too. It was one of the biggest mistake and worst argument about a pitcher not receiving an MVP because they have the CY Young.
He hits the nail on the head. Pedro did this in the steroid era. For that he gets my nod as best ever. His only knock was he had trouble going long. As a Yankee fan I just hoped we kept the game close to get to the bullpen.
There a chance Pedro was juiced up too though.
Great video. I used to throw BP to Sosa back in the day.
"intimidating when my pitch change up like Pedro" - Akrobatik
Excellent video.
I know video tech wasn't as good back then, but Pedro's breaking ball would seemingly teleport across video frames
what's amazing is that like The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, Pedro was constantly doubted for simply being undersized... many a sound baseball mind thought there was no way that frame was not going to implode with the power it possessed... and sure enough, eventually it did. However, the monster that was prime Pedro Martinez was like Maddux' smart ans skilled, except he also had the 100mph fastball when he needed it. But as he proved against the Indians in his classic no-hit relief appearance, he could get it done with cunning, finesse, an all-time change-up, and a massive ego/ chip on his shoulder... funniest props I heard given to Pedro was when he was a teammate of bigfoot-sized reliever Lee Smith... who said of Pedro something on the order of, 'he's the best pitcher in baseball, and doesn't even have a damn chest hair!' Nope, boyish, and skinny and Jeri curled, but he might as well have been 10ft tall with shark's teeth and Terminator' muscle with his attitude AND his pure "stuff"... I lived just outside of Boston, and was amazed watching Roger Clemens fan 20 first, and then do it again... that's just crazy (and nobody is going to do that 3 times either), but Pedro was the better pure artist/predator in his prime... and when you post a WHIP that beats dead ball era numbers *at the height of the steroid era*... well, you do the math...
Prime Pedro was superhuman.
In his prime he’s far and away the greatest pitcher to ever live
My favorite starter pedro and favorite closer mariano rivera 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
He had the two most dominant years in MLB history.
You also have to understand that this is still two years after interleague play was allowed so most of these National League batters, probably never faced Pedro in the peak of their career
"Grab some pine meat" - my grandma at our family reunion game
I remember being SO mad that pudge threw the runner out bc I wanted to see Pedro get 6 K 😩
Best arsenal of all time. So glad he got his ring
Prime Pedro was the best pitcher who ever lived.
I don’t know why Pedro is so underrated with my generation and I’m from Boston to, but most kids don’t look up to Pedro unless they’re Dominican. Every other kid wants to be Kershaw or Scherzer and I get that but Pedro‘s probably the goat pitcher because of the steroid era
That changer was just nasty.
Definitely on the Mount Rushmore of pitchers
His lettuce alone could have been on Mount Rushmore! He was DIRTY DIRTY!
Amazing breakdown Rob! We just broke down his mechanics on our page as well for those wanting more.
I think the high heat to Sosa wasn’t a miss at all. Pedro rarely missed. After 2 off-speed pitches he through a fastball right by Sosa’s eyes where he couldn’t not see it fly by, and then he went down with off-speed again. I think that high fastball was specifically thrown to throw Sammy off on the following pitch
Pedro Martinez and Tony Gwynn are the best players in my lifetime
7:28 the look on Mark’s face 😆 almost like he wants to bash the umpires face in with his bat 😠 I bet Mark was just a real peach to be around, probably still is too. Which is funny because growing up, I always thought he was the good cop to Canseco’s bad cop, but then you hear some of the stories about Mark…
In his prime he’d bring the 97mph heat, or 92mph, then changeup between 85-89 and a nasty slurve between 81-85. Just disgusting stuff
Dude had like 5 punch out pitches lol
The only problem with Pedro’s All-Star performance is that he actually hurt his arm and had to go on the disabled list as a result
I’m old enough to have seen them both. And Even as a heartbroken Mets fan in January of 2023. Pedro of the Red Sox is an all time great. DeGrom is the 🐐 He’s better than anybody I’ve ever seen with these 2 eyes. -And no I don’t mean the Pedro that played for the Mets. Whom though reinvented was still very good. Seaver was before my time. As was Gibson Koufax etc. My Rushmore is Pedro, DeGrom, Unit, Kershaw, Maddox Verlander & runner up: Smoltz Hersh, An IMO underrated Dave Stewart & I’m likely forgetting somebody. Grienke Sabathia Johan Musina Glavine were all great but need to rise when Pedro enters the room.
Best ever .
third greatest individual season in history. no disrespect to pudge rodriguez, but martinez was MVP that year.
El Pedro !!
When are you going to do a video of the 17K game against the Yankees? I wonder if anyone ever asked him about the at bat where he gave up the HR to Chili Davis, cause really, that should have been a No No if he didn't hit that HR.
Pedro
Best ever
Curious why Piazza wasn't in that lineup somewhere.
I have pedro number 1 all-time.
Yup no question
7:18 looks like the juice is about to burst out of his 👀
I'm a die hard Yankees fan and I absolutely HATE Pedro but damn could that guy pitch. One of the best. Hated seeing him on the mound against my Yanks
One of the requirements for being on rushmore is you gotta be able to get fans to say stuff like this.
I'd say 2000 was his peak performance.
That curveball DID make Sammy see a ghost. After that pitch, he turned white......LITERALLY.
did Pedro have the greatest pitching career ever? no..... But Pedro at his peak in 1999 and 2000 was and still is the greatest any pitcher has ever been. This man was a one man wrecking crew that ripped straight through the steroid era
Remember Pedro. Who's your daddy, chant?
Pedro is great but is he grester than the strike out king? Nolan Ryan was a phenomenon. How does a pitcher throw harder in the 9th inning than he did in the first inning?
Carl Hubbell.
I agree!!! Pedro el Grande. Insanely superior to all his peers at the height of the Steroid era.
Why would you do Sammy sosa dirty? Talking about his use of steroids and then skip Mark McGwire like nothing happened. Mark McGwire came clean, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998.
Juiced batters and juiced balls… Pedro still shut em all down
Unhittable. Absolutely unhittable
Closing thing to playing Chess I've ever seen in baseball......
If you going to judge at least be fair you said about Sammy Sosa using steroids .but didn't have the same concept of believing in Mark McGwire's steroids the guy's body couldn't take any more exploring not an honest resume!
Sosa was the only one on steroids in that lineup?
👍👍👍
Pedro looks skinny next to steroid hitters
Scrawny and even undernourished
But at least you know he didn't cheat
Issue with #45 was he was 5 Feet 11 inches tall 165ibs and being a athlete at that size is considered small (Compared to #51 Almost 7 feet well over 220ibs #21 Obvious steroid use already physically tough. Look for other elite pitchers in MLB not quite as small (Becomes Fragile prone to injuries) As Pedro Martinez.
Pedro and the best All Star Game Performance ever? Har, har, har. I guess you never heard the name Carl Hubbell. He struck out 5 Hall of Fame Hitters.....IN A ROW. Cripes, nobody else ever came close to that.
Ohtani >
Nolan Ryan not on your list you don't know anything about baseball
2:19 I'll say it absolutely steroids had 100% to do with it.
Pedro had the classic steroid physique.
@@markuyehara7880 what?
@@pedrohernandez-eq9vs Sarcasm
deGrom was better in 2015.
Degrom wasnt facing these monsters and Pedro far more of an artist on that mound degrom a power pitcher that's why he always getting injured
The big difference is that in 99 and 2000 the average ERA in the American League was almost 5. Pedro was two runs better than the second place guy for ERA Clemens in 2000.