MLB All-Stars back in Arlington, where 11 future Hall of Famers started outside in Texas heat in '95

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Major League Baseball was still stinging from a strike that had wiped out the World Series the previous season when the 1995 All-Star Game was played in the stifling Texas heat at the Rangers’ new ballpark.

Buck Showalter certainly remembers how hot it was when he managed the American League squad then. He also knows how important that game was for baseball.

“I think the All-Star Game was a reminder that we’re back to normalcy, so to speak, and that you could trust our game again,” Showalter recalled.

There were 15 future Hall of Fame players on the rosters, with Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez among 11 of them who started the game. He got an extended ovation during pregame introductions, then sent the sellout crowd of 50,920 into a frenzy when he threw out leadoff hitter Lenny Dykstra trying to steal second base in the top of the first inning.

“I did what I do best during the game,” Rodriguez said.

Pudge is now one of the ambassadors for another Midsummer Classic in Arlington. This one will be played across the street in Globe Life Field, a stadium with a retractable roof that has already hosted two World Series since opening in 2020.

The heat is still here, but the roof will be closed for the game Tuesday night, as well as for the workout and Home Run Derby the day before. The forecast calls for temperatures in the upper 90s, and maybe even pushing 100 degrees — similar to the sweltering conditions for the All-Star festivities there nearly three decades ago.

“It was like sitting on a griddle,” former Rangers president Tom Schieffer recalled.

The National League won the game 3-2 with all three of its hits being solo home runs. Craig Biggio and Mike Piazza both went deep with two outs, the latter off Rangers lefty Kenny Rogers in the seventh inning, before game MVP Jeff Conine’s game-deciding homer in the eighth.

That old stadium, with a different name, still stands and looks much the same from the outside. But it can no longer host an MLB game.

After the Rangers played their final game there in 2019, the playing surface was reconfigured primarily for football, including artificial turf throughout and the removal of the visitors dugout and about a dozen rows of seats on what was the third-base side. The UFL’s Dallas Renegades and local high school teams play football in the stadium that is also the home of a Major League Rugby team and a reserve team for FC Dallas of Major League Soccer.

Conine’s pinch-hit homer in 1995 landed in the left-center field stands, which have been replaced by permanent seating that extends well past the outfield wall toward the former infield.

MLB is utilizing the old ballpark this week as part of the All-Star Village, including a wiffle ball field situated near where the infield once was and by a nearby domed tent shading the world’s largest baseball. Jerseys and other memorabilia from former Rangers players are on display in their old clubhouse.

The Rangers had moved into that stadium in 1994, after playing their first 22 seasons in Texas at old Arlington Stadium, which was first built as a minor league park.

Rodriguez was one of six future Hall of Famers in the AL starting lineup in 1995, along with first baseman and Home Run Derby champion Frank Thomas, shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., third baseman Wade Boggs, right fielder Kirby Puckett and designated hitter Edgar Martinez. Roberto Alomar entered as a pinch-runner and played second base.

Joining catcher Piazza and second baseman Biggio in the NL lineup were first baseman Fred McGriff, shortstop Barry Larkin and right fielder Tony Gwynn.

Three future Hall of Famers selected for that game didn’t play because of injuries: shortstop Ozzie Smith, pitcher Greg Maddux and center fielder Ken Griffey Jr.

The game-time temperature for the 1995 game was 96 degrees, and more than 100 people were treated at first-aid stations inside the ballpark for heat-related problems such as dehydration and headaches.

It was even hotter during workouts and the Home Run Derby the previous afternoon. That was before the derby was the prime-time showcase it is now.

“My first recollection is how hot it was,” said Showalter, then the manager of the New York Yankees, who had the AL’s best record when the 1994 season ended prematurely Aug. 11 after players went on strike. He later was the Rangers manager from 2003-06. “That was a great facility, except it didn’t have a roof on it. There was nothing wrong with that ballpark.”

Aside from the World Series, the All-Star Game was the only time AL and NL players competed against each other until interleague games began in 1997. The first regular-season interleague game was at Texas, two years after the ASG — a 4-3 win by Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants on June 12.

Globe Life Park is next to Texas Live!, a $250 million dining, entertainment and hospitality complex that opened in 2019, the kind of development that had been envisioned a quarter-century earlier when building the former ballpark. The current stadium is also adjacent to two luxury hotels, one that opened earlier this year in conjunction with a new Arlington Convention Center.

The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys play nearby at AT&T Stadium, which opened in 2009 and was designed by HKS. That is the same company that designed Globe Life Field, where the neutral-site World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay was played at the end of the pandemic-impacted 2020 season before the Rangers won their first championship last fall.

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FILE - Scott Sarett, of Arlington, Texas, uses an umbrella and a fan to keep cool during the Legends of the Game at the Ballpark in Arlington during All-Star baseball festivities in Arlington, Texas, July 10, 1995. Major League Baseball is playing its All-Star Game in Arlington for the first time since 1995, when the Rangers played outside in the stifling heat. This year's game will be played Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in their stadium with a retractable roof that opened in 2020. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Youths demonstrate a wiffle ball game at the All Star Village set up inside the Choctaw Stadium ahead of the MLB All Star baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Texas Rangers baseball memorabilia is on display during a media tour of the All Star Village at Choctaw Stadium ahead of the MLB All Star baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

FILE - Florida Marlins' Jeff Conine, right, is congratulated by third base coach Jerry Manuel, of the Montreal Expos, after hitting the winning home run in the eighth inning of the All-Star baseball game in Arlington, Texas, July 11, 1995. Major League Baseball is playing its All-Star Game in Arlington for the first time since 1995, when the Rangers played outside in the stifling heat. This year's game will be played Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in their stadium with a retractable roof that opened in 2020. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

FILE - Tiffany Layton, left, and Gregory Taylor, right, protect themselves from the heat before the All-Star baseball game at the Ballpark in Arlington in Arlington, Texas, July 11, 1995. Major League Baseball is playing its All-Star Game in Arlington for the first time since 1995, when the Rangers played outside in the stifling heat. This year's game will be played Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in their stadium with a retractable roof that opened in 2020. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Choctaw Stadium is where the All Star Village will be ahead of the MLB All Star baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

FILE - The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra performs at Globe Life Park before an opening day baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the Philadelphia Phillies in Arlington, Texas, March 31, 2014. Major League Baseball is playing its All-Star Game in Arlington for the first time since 1995, when the Rangers played outside in the stifling heat. This year's game will be played Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in their stadium with a retractable roof that opened in 2020. (AP Photo/Kim Johnson Flodin, File)

FILE - The jersey number of former Texas Rangers player Ivan Rodriguez is painted on the field for a ceremony where the number was retired by the ball club before a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Arlington, Texas, Aug. 12, 2017. Major League Baseball is playing its All-Star Game in Arlington for the first time since 1995, when the Rangers played outside in the stifling heat. This year's game will be played Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in their stadium with a retractable roof that opened in 2020. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade, File)

*The All Star Village is set up inside the Choctaw Stadium ahead of the MLB All Star baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

TOKYO (AP) — A strong storm lashed southern Japan with torrential rain and strong winds Thursday, causing at least three deaths as it started a crawl up the length of the archipelago and raised concerns of flooding, landslides and extensive damage.

Tropical storm Shanshan made landfall Thursday morning as a powerful typhoon on the southern island of Kyushu and then gradually lost strength, though it was still forecast to bring strong winds, high waves and significant rainfall to most of the country, particularly on Kyushu.

About 60 centimeters (nearly 2 feet) of rain fell in parts of Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu, swelling rivers and threatening floods, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. That 24-hour total was more than the average rainfall for all of August, it said.

By late afternoon Thursday, the storm was moving north at 15 kph (9 mph) and its winds had weakened to 108 kph (67 mph). It is “no longer a powerful typhoon,” the agency said.

As disaster risks in the Kyushu region subsided later Thursday, Shanshan started dumping heavy rain on neighboring Shikoku island.

The storm ripped through downtown Miyazaki city on Kyushu, knocking down trees, throwing cars to the side in parking lots and shattering windows of some buildings. The prefectural disaster management task force said about 50 buildings were damaged.

NHK public television showed a swollen river in the popular hot spring town of Yufu in Oita prefecture, just north of Miyazaki, with muddy water splashing against a bridge.

More than 70 people were injured across Kyushu, mostly in Miyazaki and Kagoshima. Some were injured by being thrown to the ground by the storm on their way to shelters, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

About 168,000 households were without power across Kyushu, most of them in Kagoshima prefecture, Kyushu Electric Power Co. said.

About 20,000 people took shelter at municipal community centers, school gymnasiums and other facilities across Kyushu, according to prefectural reports.

Ahead of the storm's arrival, heavy rain triggered a landslide that buried a house in the central city of Gamagori, killing three residents and injuring two others, the city’s disaster management department said. On the southern island of Amami, which Shanshan passed, one person was injured by being knocked down by a wind gust while riding a motorcycle, the fire agency said.

Weather and government officials are concerned about extensive damage as the storm slowly sweeps up the Japanese archipelago to the northeast over the next few days, threatening more floods and landslides.

In the Tokyo region, Shinkansen bullet trains connecting Tokyo and Osaka were suspended starting Thursday evening due to heavy rain in the central region. Bullet train service also was to be suspended in parts of the western and central regions on Friday.

Disaster Management Minister Yoshifumi Matsumura said Shanshan could cause “unprecedented” levels of violent winds, high waves, storm surges and heavy rain. At a task force meeting on Wednesday, he urged people, especially older adults, not to hesitate and take shelter whenever there is any safety concern.

Hundreds of domestic flights connecting southwestern cities and islands were canceled Thursday, and bullet trains and some local train services were suspended. As the storm headed northeast, similar steps were taken in parts of the main island of Honshu that were experiencing heavy rain. Postal and delivery services were suspended in the Kyushu region, and supermarkets and other stores planned to close.

People holding umbrella, struggles with the strong wind as a typhoon is approaching in Fukuoka, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

A car makes its way through a flooded road as a typhoon hits the city in Usuki, Oita prefecture western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

A road is covered by mud and stones as a typhoon hits the city in Yufu, Oita prefecture western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

Roof tiles are seen scattered blown away by strong winds of a typhoon in Miyazaki, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

Roof tiles are seen scattered by strong winds of a typhoon at a residential area in Miyazaki, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

People holding umbrella, struggle with the strong wind as a typhoon is approaching in Fukuoka, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

A departing flight information board shows that some flights were canceled due to an approaching Typhoon Shanshan at Haneda airport Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A departing flight information board shows that some flights were canceled due to an approaching Typhoon Shanshan at Haneda airport Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A departing flight information board shows that some flights were canceled due to an approaching Typhoon Shanshan at Haneda airport Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

This aerial image shows the landslide in Gamagori, Aichi prefecture, Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. Ahead of the typhoon's arrival, heavy rain caused a landslide that buried a house in the central city of Gamagori. (Kyodo News via AP)

Farmland along a river is flooded by heavy rains caused by a typhoon in Yufu, Oita prefecture, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

An exterior wall of a building is seen damaged by strong wind of a typhoon in Miyazaki, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

People holding umbrella, struggle with the strong wind as a typhoon is approaching in Kagoshima, western Japan, Tehursday, Aug. 29, 2024, (Hidetaka Komukai/Kyodo News via AP)

A metal object blown away by strong winds of a typhoon is caught on a power line in Miyazaki, western Japan, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)